Before the Mushroom War
by ParagonFlynn
Summary: Details the story of a man during the last few days before the Great Mushroom War and how he will unknowingly save the one who will be known as the greatest hero of all Ooo. A completely new story with new characters, including some of your beloved characters from the show. Rated T for harsh language and violence and minor alcohol intake. Please read and review. *Rewritten*
1. Another Morning

**Hello there! As some of you may or may not know, this story has been through a rewrite due to the recent incredible episode of 'I Remember You'. Some of you like the gracious guest reviewer, anonymus, were worried that it would ruin the original 'masterpiece', which I would like to thank you for considering it as such a thing, and questioned the very reason for me to waste my time rewriting a completed work. Well, it's because I take my writing very seriously and since this is my first ever fanfiction, it really means a lot to me. So I felt like I just had to rewrite the entire thing... But I would also like to reassure you that the story is not entirely different. I merely deleted the presence of 'You-Know-Who' and added some much needed 'oomph' to the rest of the chapters, extending them somewhat. So you have nothing to worry about, anonymus... Anyway, that is all I have to say and I hope all of you will enjoy the story. Thanks again for being so patient with my rewriting process and I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused.**

**-ParagonFlynn  
**

* * *

Before the Mushroom War

Another Morning...

The wide and spacious room before me was quite dim with the only shutter window closed. There were only the small but tenacious streaks of sunlight coming through the closed shutters of the window to slightly lighten up the dim room. I slowly shuffled inside the room like a dreary and sleepless zombie before I promptly pressed a button from the remote resting on my hand, turning on the familiar buzzing sound of the holographic television. A blindingly bright green screen suddenly erupted from the circular metal base in the middle of the room and slowly rised upwards. To my surprise, the channel was already set on the news. How lovely… "And that's our interview with the cast of the upcoming sequel to the mega-hit trilogy, Heat Signature." The television nonsensically blared as I casually approached the window. Oh yeah, that kind of reminds me... I need to remember to make a little mental note: Note to self, don't forget to take out Hannah to see the movies and maybe take her to a nice dinner too. She never got to see Heat Signature 3 because of my work. I never liked the movie series... In my opinion, it's way too cliched but it's the least I could do to repay her...

"Coming right up after the short break, we will be giving out more updates from the unfortunate major blackout New York is currently suffering through." The television droned on... I gently pushed open the shutters of the window, letting the welcoming warmth of bright sunlight into the dim room. Without realizing it, I promptly let out a tiring yawn and stretched my weary arms as long as I could before taking in the pleasant view of the enveloping hills and the lush trees before me. The beautiful view is always a calming and comforting sight for me. The cloud-kissed morning Sun was as a breathless sight as ever, no matter how many times I had been greeted by it... Hannah was right when she decided to build our house up here in the mountainous hills. It's just what the doctor ordered… "What do you do when the unthinkable happens? Think about your family. Think about your future. Buy a ticket pass to Beautopia, the underground haven for the future! Your family will never be so safe and grateful!" Well, it's that darned advertisement again. It seems like they have been showing it more and more lately, for some reason...

I silently surveyed the wide room which also happened to be my personal workshop with my weary and heavy eyes. The bland walls of the workshop were painted by the most colorful of all colors, plain white! The reason for the empty and dull walls was mostly due to the fact that I see no particular use at all in decorations. Come to think of it, it's the only place in the entire house untouched by Hannah's decorating hands. Wow, I feel like I'm actually preserving an endangered area... There were four rectangular wooden tables lining up against the walls of the entire room. The intricately carved wooden tables were mostly littered with useless metallic junk and unfinished inventions that I never really got interested into completing. I don't know why but for some reason, I never really got that inspirational spark inside me to help me complete all of these useless pieces of inventions... I mean, come on, Brain! Did you really think a machine that could automatically tie your own shoes is a good thing? The world don't need something like that right now to help make people more lazy...

There was also the old holographic television, its metallic base resting neatly in the middle of the spacious room and a four-wheeled office chair hidden under one of the wooden tables. I'm not so sure which though… I think I actually lost it somehow... Well, if I forgot where it is, it's might as well be completely disappeared for eternity and I have to already start thinking on getting a new one. "The riots in the neighboring cities have intensified and the police were help-" I quickly pressed the remote resting on the palm of my hand yet again and turned off the bright screen of the holographic television. Political tensions... Public uprisings... Rumors of martial law... I just could not bear any of this bull crap anymore…

I gently tossed the remote somewhere onto one of the tables amongst the other metallic knick-knacks cluttered there before immediately pacing to and fro around the entire room inspecting some of the leftover pieces of junk. What to do today? What to do today? Ideas quickly come and go inside my head on what piece of junk to finish. It's all mostly useless gadgets anyway but there have to be something I could do. Targeting software or missile guidance systems are all too boring to do nowadays… I need to do something completely different now… I'm done with all of the military work and I plan to keep it that way for a long time. I didn't know how long it must have been as I continued to contemplate about all of the ideas in my head. After what I felt was quite a long while, I finally threw my arms up in the air, promptly giving up on any plans that I will do something constructive today and decided to just waste my time gazing at the tranquil sight outside the window instead. Ah! Much better now! Easier too! These kinds of tranquil and peaceful views always make me feel so happy and safe. And who knows? I might suddenly get inspired out of nowhere or something...

"Excuse me, sir? I'm terribly sorry to disturb you, sir! But I would like your attention, please!" Someone was suddenly calling out for me from the doorway of the workshop, interrupting my entire train of thought. Well, it's not like the empty train was going anywhere in the first place... I slowly turned around to see good ole' Duncan, our faithful butler for years, was standing firmly still by the doorway of the workshop. Duncan is like one of those traditional butlers normally seen in movies or shows with the receding gray hairline and the dapper butler suit and all that kind of stuff. "What is it, Duncan? I thought I told you and the rest of the staff that you can have the entire week off." I exclaimed as I smiled softly at him, pleasantly surprised to see that he was still here. "Again, I am terribly sorry to disturb you, sir..." He said to me in a prim and proper tone as traditional butlers tend to do before he gently bowed down apologetically, much to my sheer embarrassment. I never really liked it when people did those kinds of things to me... "I was just about to leave, Sir, but it appears that you have a visitor." Duncan quickly added. A- A visitor? Really? Who would actually visit me at this hour? In fact, who would even want to visit me?

"Well, don't leave me with such suspense! Who's the visitor then, Duncan?" I asked sarcastically as I casually approached the middle of the room. "It's- It's a mister-" But before Duncan could even finish his sentence, he was suddenly interrupted by a familiar looking man entering the workshop. "Come on! It's me, Louis!" The young man exclaimed cheerfully as he stood right before me. Duncan seemed partially shocked that he was rudely cut off so suddenly at first, but he quickly shrugged it off before immediately leaving the room. "Have a good day, Duncan!" I cried out to him as he left the room and hopefully went back home. Of all the staff, he deserves the most rest...

I turned my gaze back to the familiar-looking man who was simply smiling at me as I continued to stare blankly at him. I have absolutely no idea who this guy is but he seemed so familiar to me. I just could not put my finger on it... Hannah always said that I have a terrible memory... Heck, I KNOW I have a terrible memory but sometimes I actually forgot about it! The olive-skinned man standing before me had short dark hair which was neatly combed backwards. He was wearing a black three-piece suit completed with a little red bow tie on his neck. "I'm- I'm quite sorry but who are you again?" I swallowed my nerves as I shamefully asked him.

The young man suddenly chuckled at my admittedly stupid question, "Oh come on, Louis! You don't remember me already? It's only been a few weeks, my friend!" I slowly and gently shook my head in denial. "Well then, here. Maybe this will help you and your bad memory…" The young man promptly took out a pair of blue tinted glasses from his shirt pocket and immediately placed it around his eyes. "Ta-da! Remember me now, Louis?" He exclaimed cheerfully as he waved his hands around as if he just did something magical. I continued to gaze into the familiar-looking person like an old and ancient man who had just lost his entire vision and couldn't see anything clearly. Seconds literally passed by before it suddenly dawned on me like a solid brick to the head. Wow, I can't believe I didn't actually realize it any sooner...

I happily grinned as broadly as I could before I immediately approached to embrace a dear old friend of mine...

"Simon… Simon Petrikov!"


	2. Old Friends

Before the Mushroom War

Old Friends

"Well, if it isn't 'Mr. Fancy-Pants High Horse Antiquarian'! I thought you would never have the time to see little ole' me again." I exclaimed sarcastically as I approached to happily embrace an old friend. "It has been a very long while, hasn't it?" Simon grinned broadly. "Yeah, it's almost two months actually! Ever since you found that book thingie... What was it called again? The 'blah-yada-dion'? The 'Excridilion'?" I exclaimed sarcastically. He proceeded to chuckle at my admittedly bad memory. "No, no Louis... It's actually called the Enchiridion. The supposed handbook for heroes! Written by all kinds of legendary figures that I have never heard of before!" He waved his arms around in the air as he explained loudly, trying to signify how awesome it is. He always a somewhat eccentric person. "Pft... Heroes... I can't imagine someone writing an instruction manual on how to be a hero. It's probably just some ancient fairy tale book or something..." I muttered under my breath as I simply shrugged. Who knows what it could have been?

"Huh? I'm sorry, Louis, but what did you say?" He was too busy stealing a glance at my workshop to really pay attention to me. "Nothing! Oh, it was nothing..." I smiled nervously at him. I didn't want to diminish his discovery with my lame attitude... He always hated it when I make fun of his work. "Well... Anyway, how are you doing, Simon? The last time I saw you, you could barely find the words to propose to Betty." I asked, trying to change the subject entirely. "Yeah… About that…" He smiled wryly as he glanced suggestively at me. My eyes immediately lit up in disbelief and shock. He can't be bloody serious...

"Wait... Wait, don't tell me… Don't even tell me… You finally did it, didn't you? You actually did it? You finally proposed to her!" I exclaimed in excitement as I was left completely breathless. "Yes! That's right! Betty will finally make me the happiest man in the world!" Simon literally jumped and skipped around out of excitement in the middle of the room, much to my pleasant surprise. It was also kind of embarrassing to see a grown man prancing about in place though... "Well, I say it's about freaking time. You two have been practically together for years now. I still remember some colleagues of mine were actually surprised that you two weren't married yet when they met you. I told you that you should have done it a long time ago, didn't I? And when was that again?" I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of his overbearing happiness.

"Yeah, I know… I know, Louis... You were right and I was wrong. There, I said it. You happy now?" He chanted as he rolled his eyes in bemusement. "Maybe." I simply answered as I smiled at him. "I'm serious though; I should have done the deed a long time ago. A beautiful and kind woman like Betty is a once in a lifetime opportunity…" He seemed a bit down just from the thought of it, a stark contrast to his happy emotion not a few minutes ago. "Hey, Simon… Congratulations…" I outstretched my hand towards him and smiled softly. "Thank you… Thank you very much, Louis." He happily shook my hand and grinned happily. I thought I could see a single tear crossing his face as we shook hands… He was always too emotional sometimes... But I saw... that he was happy… Almost the same way I was happy when I first proposed to Hannah all those years ago. It was really nice seeing Simon again after all this time. Glad to see he hasn't changed at all. Well, apart from his marital status. Heh... Welcome to the club, Simon...

"So what have you been up to after all this time, Simon? And please don't tell me you found another boring book..." I asked him curiously with a friendly smile. To be honest, I was always interested in his studies as an antiquarian and all of the random ancient artifacts he had gathered and discovered. Too bad I sometimes forget most of them, thanks to my horrible memory. I can't even remember what he found before the Enchiridion... "Well, Betty and I just got back from a recent business trip from up in Northern Scandinavia and I thought that maybe I could visit an old friend on the way back home." He explained as he started pacing around my workshop and checking out all of the useless pieces of junk lying around on the tables. It was kind of embarrassing seeing his eyes gleaning over all of the scrap metal on the tables...

"You both went to Scandinavia? You're still traveling around even in these uncertain times?" I was slightly surprised that they were both still willing enough to even leave the country. "I always love the sight of the sky as I flew past them, Louis... It gave me this kind of strange but calming feeling inside me. It felt like the entire world's problems seemed so distant and smaller in comparison for just a brief moment…" He said softly as he hypnotically gazed outside the workshop's only window. I fell silent, hearing what he just said... I'm not sure what to say but I couldn't help and understand how he feels. I, myself, always wanted to get away from all of these problems with the world; Heck, I even tried my best to fix some of them... But a large part of me always kept reminding me about the sad truth. It's only wishful thinking, Simon, and there's no way of denying that…

"Wow… This is quite different." Simon suddenly exclaimed in amazement. "What's different?" I snapped out from thinking to myself and saw Simon holding a medium-sized green box with a little screen and a few buttons on the front of it. "Hey! Be careful with that, Simon. It's very important to me." I warned him as I hurriedly approached his side. "What… What is it anyway?" He asked me as he held it up in the air, inspecting the strange little box. "It's one of my unfinished projects that I never really got around to completing." I explained. "Is it some sort of tracking device or some kind of targeting-" "No! You know I don't do any of that stuff anymore…" I quickly interrupted him. "So what exactly is it then?" He said in a soft tone; seemingly understanding why I was quick to interrupt him. "It's... uh... It's a Bio-Metrical Operation processor unit that I had been tinkering with these past few weeks." I tried to put it bluntly to him.

"So what does it do? And in English, please?" He asked seemingly perplexed at what he's holding. "Okay, to keep it simple… I upgraded the processor unit into a universal toy. It's a video game console to be exact." Simon reared back, pleasantly surprised at what I just said, "A video game console?! That's certainly quite a leap from what you used to do, Louis." "Yeah, yeah, I know... I created it especially for the baby. It's meant to be like a long-time companion or something." I then droned on trying to explain some of the systems and how it would function to Simon, keeping it as simple as possible for him. "And all you have to do is turn it on and it would immediately be your friend that you could actually play and even converse with! Since it can talk, learn about new topics of interest and create a seemingly unlimited number of simple games, I had hoped it would last for quite an amount of time for the baby." I finally finished explaining, only to see Simon awestruck at what he was holding.

"Wow! That's incredible!" Simon yelled in amazement. "Can I turn it on now?" I saw his finger was slowly inching closer to one of the buttons. "No! No! No!" I immediately leapt forward and gently grabbed the little box away from Simon's grasp, much to his disappointment. "What's wrong with it? Does it suddenly go crazy with murderous intent or something?" He joked about; waving his skinny arms around and making loud explosion sounds with his mouth. "Hardly… It would be pretty awesome if it was like that though, but I still need to find a suitable power source or else it would just shut down randomly." I placed the green box neatly on the table amongst the other junk. "The Nanite energy cells it uses can help it recharge all by itself but it's not enough to keep it turned on for more than a day. The worst thing it could do is that it could actually just shut down randomly... It's just not... perfect enough yet…" I muttered as I dusted off the little green box on the table.

"Well, I think the father should be good enough for the baby." A soft voice suddenly came from the doorway. To my pleasant surprise, I quickly turned around and saw a fair woman standing right next to the doorway. Her flowing waist-length blonde hair and her new navy blue with white polka dot maternity dress immediately enchanted me. Yeah... I'm always weak like that when I'm with her… "Hannah!" I yelped in complete surprise, smiling broadly at her.

"Why are you two locked away inside here?" She asked as she slowly entered my workshop. "We're just catching up for a while, that's all." I said in a cheery tone as I approached to embrace my wife. "Hey Hannah, do you remember who this guy is?" I asked her, pointing directly towards the four-eyed man known as Simon. He approached Hannah and gently bowed down in front of her. Oh God, what a gentleman… "It's nice to see you again, Hannah." He smiled sweetly at her. "Oh! It's you, Simon!" She exclaimed excitedly as she gasped in shock. Well, she certainly remembered him faster than me…

"How have you been doing, Simon? I haven't seen you for a long time!" "I-" "Is Betty here too? How is she anyway?" "No. She's-" "You look so different Simon... You're so scrawny now. Did you forget to eat for a week or something? Why don't you stay here for lunch instead?" Hannah repeatedly pelted Simon with questions giving him barely any time to answer. It was quite amusing at first, but I guess I need to let the poor man breathe. Glad to see I wasn't the one getting pelted from Hannah for once… "Let him at least answer one question, Hannah. We don't want you to be out of breath yet again, do we now?" Hannah stopped and glared at me as I immediately smiled in a nervous manner.

Simon slowly regained his composure before he could finally answer Hannah's questions, "I'm doing perfectly fine, Hannah. Betty's fine too. But she couldn't join me because she had to go back home to finalize on some renovations we're making to the house. She-" "Renovations? What are you going to do, Simon? Build another gallery devoted to a dusty book or something?" I interrupted him jokingly. "No… Not exactly... Betty and I are actually going to build a huge marble statue of ourselves to celebrate our awesome marriage." He replied in a sarcastic tone. "Marriage?" Hannah's eye immediately lit up with shock and amazement which is the same way I did.

"You didn't tell me Simon and Betty was already married?" She kept glaring at me and making me feel very uncomfortable. She always hated it when she's not informed on the latest news... "Uh… Not yet, Hannah... He meant…" I laughed nervously at her grumpy behaviour. I was always at a loss of words whenever I'm with Hannah... "I... uh... I meant that we're about to get married! And I came here to invite you to our wedding!" Simon quickly added as he took out a piece of card from inside his jacket and promptly handed it to Hannah. He probably just saved my life...

"Already giving out invitations, Simon? Well, that's-" Hannah elbowed me, immediately silencing me from continuing to finish one of my legendary jokes. "Thank you for the invitation, Simon. We're definitely coming! You can be sure of that." She exclaimed happily, smiling sweetly at him. "It's exciting, isn't it? The knowledge of getting married? The thought that you can finally be someone you love?" She briefly gave me a heart-meltingly smile, her bright hazel eyes were glistening with happiness. "Now you can finally start a family, Simon!" She quickly added. Oh my God, I almost choked to death just from hearing that. Is that all she can think of nowadays? Simon's cheeks immediately blushed with a bright pink color... Oh God, what is going on right now? That escalated quickly...

"Well… uh... um... How many months has it been already?" He muttered, desperately trying to change the topic, understandably... "Seven months... It has been seven months already." Hannah exclaimed proudly as she gently clasps onto her baby bump. "Have you thought about a name yet?" He inquired, still trying to recover from Hannah's abrupt question. "Well, I wanted to name the baby from a famous historical scientist like Neil or Albert or maybe Stephen if he's a boy but-" "Certainly not, Louis…" Hannah suddenly interrupted me. "We'll name the baby after my dad. If it's a boy, we would name him Finn or if it's a girl, we will name her Fionna." Hannah quickly finished for me instead. It's not the first time she did that to me and it certainly won't be the last, I bet.

"So what would you name your child, Simon?" She bluntly asked out of nowhere. This time, I actually coughed nonsensically in shock. I almost died! Oh my God! Sometimes I wonder what goes around inside my wife's head… "Well… Uhm… I guess I have to get married first. We'll see what happens after that..." Simon laughed nervously. I'm surprised he managed to keep a cool head after all that. "Okay! Who's up for lunch?" I said loudly as I clapped my hands, hopefully changing the whole subject entirely. "Yes! I just made some spaghetti." Hannah exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm sorry but I can't have lunch right now..." Simon muttered softly. "Come on, Hannah's cooking is not that bad..." I joked nervously; much to Hannah's annoyance. I should always tread carefully whenever I was joking about something related to Hannah but thankfully with Simon here, at least I know that I have a witness. "It's not that… I… I have to go back home and join Betty... This was actually supposed to be just a short visit." He said in a soft and nervous tone. Poor guy's afraid we would get offended or something. "Okay, we understand, Simon... It's not a problem at all. You don't have to be such a weenie about it." Hannah said softly, reassuring him. "Come on, we can't just let our guest leave without a proper goodbye." I exclaimed as I gestured to the doorway, directing Simon out of the workshop. Simon smiled gratefully as we accompanied him to the front door of the house.

We passed the den and our master bedroom before we finally got downstairs of our house. The colorful yellow hallways of the house are decorated with old pictures of Hannah, some old friends, my old science team and Atlas... Hey, I just realized that there weren't that many pictures of me... I never liked standing in front of a camera. Anyway, as soon as we went downstairs, the front door of the house was directly in front of the staircase. I led Simon outside and pushed the carved wooden door open, seeing the small fenced courtyard of my house with a pristine marble fountain in the middle. The garage was on the right of the courtyard and at the other end of it, was the wide automatic metal gate. A shiny brown sedan was neatly parked in front of us between the marble fountain and the doorway. I presume it was Simon's car but I guess it was pretty obvious actually considering that there's nobody else here...

I decided to accompany Simon to his car as Hannah waited behind at the doorway. We can't let her move around too much, considering her condition... "So are you going to show me what you found in Northern Scandinavia or do you want me to beg you for it?" I asked him jokingly as he unlocked the car door of the sedan. "I could tell you... Or better yet, I could show it to you! How about after dinner at my place next week when the renovations are finished? It's the least I could do to repay for your kindness…" Simon smiled cheerfully. "Don't be so modest, Simon... We didn't do anything but stand around in a dusty and old workshop." I chuckled happily. "Well, the offer still stands anyway..." He said softly. One annoying thing about Simon's house is that it's pretty far from ours, as in you have to go through like three cities to get where he lives. Every time it felt more like a road trip than a simple visit... I'm not sure whether it's my fault for living in seclusion up here in the mountains or it's his fault for choosing to live in a normal city amongst normal people... I think it's actually his fault...

"Then it's a deal, my friend. Dinner at your house..." I exclaimed as we promptly shook our hands together. Wait a second... That's kind of strange... I don't know why... But his hands were suddenly unnaturally cold for some reason... It was brief but I felt it... Oh dear, I must be going crazy from working too much. For all I know, it's because of all this cold weather recently. I don't know why it felt so strange though...

"Goodbye, Hannah! Congratulations about the baby, by the way!" Simon shouted to her before he promptly entered the driver's seat of his car. "Goodbye, Simon! It was very nice to see you again!" Hannah yelled back from the doorway as she waved goodbye at him, her voice's volume easily overpowered Simon. Yeah, that happens..."You're going to love what I found, Louis. It could be the biggest find I ever had... Maybe even bigger than the Enchiridion!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Well, I'm sure it will be a life changing experience for all of us, Simon." I said sarcastically as I jokingly waved my hands around. "Well, there's also Betty's cooking to look forward to." He added with a chuckle. "It certainly couldn't be as bad as Hannah's cooking." I whispered under my breath.

"What was that, Louis?!" Hannah yelled angrily from behind, much to my shock. I almost jumped and quickly turned around to face Hannah, putting on my best smile. "It's nothing at all, dear! I love you and your wonderful cooking! Especially your cooking!" I said nervously as I chuckled weakly. She didn't seem so impressed though... I then slowly turned back to Simon while still keeping my frightened smile. "Well, this could probably be the last time you will ever see me alive, Simon..." Simon burst out laughing at the whole scene happening before him. Yeah... Yeah… Laugh it up, Simon… Laugh it up... Sooner or later, you'll get married too…

After a short while, he finally stopped laughing and smiled gently at me, "It was really nice to see you again, Louis..." "As do you, old friend... Hey, give Betty my regards..." I put on my most friendly grin for him. Simon gently nodded at me and promptly closed the car door. For a second there, I thought I saw some kind of black box resting neatly at the back seat of the sedan. I couldn't help but wonder if that was the 'amazing' and 'life-changing' item he found in Northern Scandinavia. Simon gently waved goodbye at both of us and immediately drove towards the automatic gate as it slowly opens. It wasn't long before he was finally outside of our courtyard and was immediately gone from our sight. After what felt like such a long time, it was really comforting to see Simon again... He's the closest thing in the world that I could consider a good friend…

"Goodbye, Simon..."


	3. Sudden Stop

Before the Mushroom War

Sudden Stop

And just like that, Simon was already long gone… Now I have to remember to write down the dinner invitation on somewhere before I forget it. Knowing my memory, it was probably inevitable... I still wonder about what kind of artifact Simon had found in Scandinavia. It must have been really something incredible if Simon is touting it as his 'biggest discovery' yet. But then again, Simon was always easily impressed... I guess we'll just have to find out soon enough... Eventually after realizing that I was still standing in the middle of the empty courtyard like a total idiot, I finally walked back to the doorway where Hannah was currently waiting.

"Simon and Betty invited us for dinner at their house." I promptly told her before we went back inside the house, but for some reason, she didn't respond to me. The whole time, Hannah just kept glaring angrily at me, making me extremely nervous by those piercing hazel eyes of her. "Why did you have to say stuff like that about my cooking? I've been making you food for all these years and now you tell me you never liked it?" She exclaimed angrily. Oh... I couldn't help but chuckle ever so slightly when I finally know what was actually wrong with her.

"Oh, you don't remember? I thought I already told you the truth about your cooking a long time ago." I said softly as I slowly pulled her closer and hugged her gently, hopefully calming her down a bit. "No, you didn't..." She pouted sulkily as she looked away from me. "Let me see here? It was the night after our wedding, we were standing under the moonlight sky as I stared deeply into your eyes." I whispered softly into her ear. "They were so brightly enchanting; I could've sworn that it was actually one of the glistening stars hanging above in the veiled night sky. It was at that moment, I swore to you that you're the love of my life and I would be by your side at all times…" She smiled softly as I finished, her anger seemingly dissipated completely.

"EXCEPT the kitchen!" I quickly added with a sarcastic smirk, to which she immediately responded by elbowing me in the stomach. Well, sometimes I have bad ideas that I don't really think through. She chuckled at the sight of me clutching onto my stomach out of numbing pain. And that's why I should never ever make fun of a former martial arts expert. Well, I don't really mind it all... I'm just happy to see her smile again after her father's-… She didn't show it at all to Simon and I had to admit that she was pretty good at hiding it, but I could still tell that she was… unhappy…

"You're lucky I still love you, Louis or I might have broken your arm right there." She said in a creepily cheerful manner. "That wouldn't be good for the baby… if the mother started doing somersaults or some fancy martial arts move again." I said weakly, still a bit sore in the stomach. "Who knows? It could be great training for the baby." She exclaimed jokingly. I mustered up a weak laugh before I saw that Hannah suddenly reared herself in pain. "What's wrong?" I shouted urgently. "It's nothing… It's… It's just the baby has been kicking a lot recently." She reassured me as she gently caressed her baby bump. "I guess the baby is more like her mother than I realize." I smiled meekly as I slowly embrace her. "But just be careful, alright? You're making me really worried about two people here…" "Yeah, yeah… Whatever…" She said nonchalantly, seemingly ignoring what I just said. I was about to lecture her even further but she suddenly edged closer to my face and gently kissed me on the lips, much to my pleasant surprise. Well, that was certainly unexpected… I forgot what I was trying to say…

The sudden sound of a doorbell ringing interrupted the moment, much to my sheer annoyance. Not another visitor… What is it with them? Yesterday was a pretty lazy day and no one came to visit us then. I wonder who could it be this time? For all I know, maybe it's Simon again and he probably forgot about something. I gently let go of Hannah and promptly went outside of the house. I tried to peer behind the metal gate from the doorway to see who could it possibly be and to my surprise, saw a different vehicle entirely. It's certainly not Simon, that's for sure… The vehicle was partially concealed behind the metal gate but judging from the top half of the vehicle, I could tell that it was a military jeep. Oh God, not those guys again… I'm really not in the mood to deal with them. I can't believe they still didn't understand me…

The deafening sound of the doorbell rang throughout the entire house yet again, much to my annoyance. I really have no choice, do I? "Well who is it, Louis?" Hannah cried out impatiently from the inside. "It's… It's just some old friends from the army." I answered as I quickly pressed the button besides the front door. The metallic gate slowly swung open and the imposing military jeep immediately drove right on inside. I stared on seriously as the jeep pulled to a stop right in front of me. The metal doors of the jeep quickly opened revealing a grizzled man with a short chinstrap. He was wearing a military uniform adorned with all kinds of medals and a high-ranking military insignia. "Colonel Henry…" I said as I glared seriously at him. He's the last person I ever expected to see again. He looked so different since the last time I seen him… I could actually see strands of grey hair at the edges of his hair. He seemed much older and... very tired but I guess that always happens in this kind of job…

"Professor Louis…" He made his greeting as he stared directly into me with his weary and baggy eyes. I simply nodded at him in a courteous manner as he urgently approached the doorway of the house. "Mrs. Mertens…" He greeted Hannah whom I didn't realize was already standing right behind me. "Oh, Henry… It's nice to see you again. What brings you all the way over here?" She said nicely, putting on her best 'happy' face again. Ugh... Wow, I can't believe I still feel kind of embarrassed when people call me and Hannah by my last name... Maybe that's why I sometimes try to use my middle name to refer myself instead, in rare occasions. Xanders... Louis Xanders... Louis X. Mertens... At least that sounds a little bit- I don't know... But! But- Uh- I didn't mean any disrespect by the way, Papa, if you happen to be listening...

"I know this might be sudden, but I really need to talk to you, Louis." He said in a strangely urgent demeanor. "Privately…" He quickly added before he slightly glanced at Hannah. "Well, alright then. I'm going to go upstairs and do… whatever." Hannah exclaimed cheerfully, understanding the gesture Henry was making. Hannah approached the staircase and started to slowly climb up. "Be careful with those stairs, honey." I warned her in a worried tone. "I'm pregnant, Louis. Not disabled..." She quickly snapped back at me in a surprisingly annoyed tone. Ah… Hannah… She never changes at all. But now then, back to business... "Why don't we talk privately in my workshop instead?" I said to Henry as I gestured my hand towards the staircase leading upstairs to the workshop. He simply nodded as he quietly and urgently followed me all the way to the workshop. What in the world could he possibly want this time?

As we finally arrived to the workshop, I immediately grabbed for the wheeled office chair that I found from under one of the tables and promptly sat on it. I rolled over to the table where the B-MO unit was resting neatly on. I didn't notice that Henry was observing and surveying the entire room. "So… This is what you're going to do now?" He said inquisitively. "What do you want, Henry?" I replied coldly as I picked up the B-MO unit. "They're finally proceeding along with your plan, Louis…" "Even when I specifically explained to them that it would not work in the end." I stated as I opened the green template revealing the entire electrical wiring inside the unit. "What did you expect?" He stifled a weak laugh. "They're getting desperate. We all are..." He muttered quietly. "That still doesn't explain why you're here, Henry. Unless… you're just a courier this time." I said while I carefully searched around the tables for the Omni-Tool. I can't believe I lost it again. Maybe I should do what Hannah said and string it around my neck or something.

"I came here to tell you that the situations getting worse... Not only here but in other countries too, and everyone's scraping at the bottom of the barrel for options." He explained as he walked towards the window. "And why are you telling me this?" I asked as I finally found the Omni-Tool. It turns out it was inside one of my pockets all along. I pulled out the small black metallic rod and with the press of a button, a pair of orange holographic pliers materialized from the rod. I still need to adjust the voice box of the unit, just a little bit… "I'm telling you this because they had hoped that you could do something about it." He said which kind of interrupted my train of thought. I did not realize it at first but his voice slowly grew more annoyed. I didn't answer immediately as I was too busy with all of the wiring work that everything else was a blur to me. It was quite a while before I realize that I have to finally answer. "I... uh... I've told you before that I want nothing to do with whatever they're planning." I exclaimed, too distracted with my work. The words 'Program Objective' lit up on the unit's screen. I deftly encoded the special programming I had made for the little console. I was feeling all kinds of satisfied gladness when the words 'Finn/Fionna' brightly lit up under the objective. There! It's finally finished! B-MO is all done! Now I just have to-

"Goddamn it, Louis! At least look at me when I'm talking to you!" I heard a loud smashing sound from somewhere behind me. I quickly turned around and saw Henry lunging forward and suddenly pulling me away from the chair, making me accidentally drop the Omni-Tool and the B-MO unit to the ground. He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and just dangled me in mid-air. Glad to see he didn't change in the slightest... "There could be a goddamn War anytime soon!" He yelled at my face as loudly as he could. "And you're just sitting up here in the hills in the middle of FUCKING nowhere, wasting your time making useless crap and pretending that everything's fine with the whole god damn world! Well, here's a news flash for you! A bloody War is coming! We can't stop it no matter what we do and it's going to kill EVERYONE!" He kept shouting and shouting directly into my face non-stop. I tried my best to at least keep a straight face through it all...

After he was finished, Henry angrily threw me to the ground like it was nothing. He stepped away from me, leaving me slumped all over the floor. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you or what in the world were you thinking, Louis! If only you had just finished Atlas-" "Atlas was a mistake!" I finally drew the line and decided to fight back. "NO! If only you had finished Atlas, then maybe we could have used it to minimize casualties or-" "Minimize casualties? That bloody thing is a walking behemoth!" I shouted back as I struggled to stand back up. "It will do more damage and destruction rather than helping with anything else! I was right to stop it when I could!" I kept pressuring him, hoping that he would stop sometime soon. I was never one for a confrontation, be it social or physical.

"And maybe you should stop relying everything on my help and do something about it on your own! I'm not a miracle worker, Henry! I can't just clap my hands right now and magically fix everything for you…" When I finally finished, Henry immediately grunted loudly out of frustration and punched the wall behind me, narrowly missing my face by mere inches. He turned away from me and started to pace around the room impatiently while clasping at his forehead. "Okay… Okay... Listen…" He said, seemingly calming himself down. "They wanted me to come here so that I could give this to you…" He said as he forcefully handed me a white piece of paper with some tiny words on it. "What is it?" I said slightly panting, trying to regain my breath after all the crazy shouting I just did. "It's a VIP pass… for Beautopia…"

"Beautopia?" I said confusingly. "I know we may have our differences... But for now, you have to think about your family and get them to safety." He explained it to me, which actually does makes a lot of sense. If there's really a War as Henry said and if it's really happening soon, I need to make sure Hannah and the baby would be safe above all else. "Tell me Henry, is it true what the rumors said? About the bunkers having cryo-stasis pods?" He didn't answer me but he just slightly nodded at me. So the cryo-stasis pods were true after all.. Do they really think that the War, if it ever happens, would stretch that far in the end? "So what about you, Henry? Do you already have a pass for Beautopia?" I asked him in a rather inquisitive manner as I slowly try to regain my bearings. "How about you and Hannah get ready before you start asking more questions?" He replied coldly, obviously getting annoyed by my questions, as he slowly approached the doorway to leave the workshop. Why would he be so defensive about it? Why would they even bother to give me a pass to Beautopia after what happened? Unless... "There's something inside Beautopia, isn't it? Something that they needed me for?" I quickly asked him before he could leave. Without turning around, Henry paused for a while at the doorway like he was unsure of what to say next.

"Just shut up... and get ready, Louis… I'll be waiting at the jeep." That was all he said before proceeding to leave me all alone in the workshop. I sighed softly before glancing at the Pass... So it's supposed to be for VIPs, eh? I wonder what difference would that make in the end if the War supposedly broke out. I guess I should go to Hannah and I don't know? Start packing all of our stuff or something... Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the B-MO unit lying on the ground. I walked towards the tables and thoroughly searched for it under the table. I thought I last saw it falling under here when Henry rudely grabbed me by the collar... Ah! There it is! And the Omni-Tool was right beside to it too. How lucky of me... It really saves me time to search for it later. I picked up the Omni-Tool, which was already turned back off from the drop, and placed it back into my pocket. I proceeded to pick up the B-MO unit from the ground and did a quick inspection of it.

Thankfully, it wasn't damaged in the slightest from the drop. Besides the power source, I guess the unit was practically finished with all the upgrades, but just to be safe… I put the template back on the unit and firmly closed it tightly. I walked over to the small metallic base that was the Holographic-television and promptly slid it aside with my leg. There was a hidden compartment with a safe under the base of the television where I keep all of my inventions that are finished or near completion. Hannah used to always call me paranoid but I still remember the times when some unsavory people tried to steal all of my work. After making sure that no one could see me, I opened the compartment revealing the metal safe. I carefully opened the safe and placed the B-MO unit neatly inside it. The safe was pretty much empty which kind of reminded me that I never finished on what I started. The B-MO unit is probably the first thing that I have completely finished.

I firmly closed the safe and the compartment following suit. Now that it was safe, I could go and start packing already. Maybe I could bring the B-MO unit along but I have to see if it's okay with Hannah first. It was when I reached the doorway did I finally realize that the B-MO unit's voice box was still incomplete. Damn it! I just remembered that I was in the middle of adjusting it when Henry threw his tantrum. So now I have no idea how it will sound like… It could probably sound like a burly Scottish man for all I know. Okay, I give up… How can I know how to create robotic machinery and fusion-based technology when I can't even remember the simplest of things that happened to me mere seconds ago…

I moaned in frustration before leaving the workshop behind me. I guess I have to finish the unit later considering if I could convince Hannah to bring it along with us to Beautopia. I slowly proceeded to the master bedroom while going through of what I should say to Hannah in my head. But when I finally arrived at the doorway, I still couldn't come up with anything. Looks like I have to resort to dropping down on my knees and beg again. That's strange… The door was already open albeit slightly ajar. I carefully pushed the door open revealing the bedroom, but it was strangely very dark inside. Was she taking a nap or something? "Hannah!" I called out for her but there was no response. For some reason, I suddenly got a really bad feeling inside me… I tried to suppress it as best I could when I slowly but carefully crept inside the dark room.

"Hannah!" I called out for her again and yet again, there was still no response. "LOUIS!" A voice suddenly came out of nowhere from behind me. Out of sheer shock, I made this rather weird yelp of horror and immediately leapt forward landing onto the ground. Before I could realize what just happened, I heard loud nonsensical laughter from behind me. I turned and saw Hannah standing at the doorway laughing loudly at the sight of me on the ground. "Hannah!" I exclaimed happily. I was just glad that she was alright after all. I guess I really am that paranoid... "You should have seen your face just now!" She snorted with laughter. "And that sound? What in God's name was that? It sounded like a sick cat screeching." "But... But where did you come from?" I asked, still confused at what just happened. "Well, you don't expect me to just lie down and do nothing all day, do you?" She smiled wryly. "So... What did you actually do then?" I asked as I slowly stood back up. "I heard what happened in there." Her smile quickly disappeared as she changed the subject. "What Henry said... Do we really have to leave?" I didn't know what to say... I can't just ask her to leave our only home behind but... "Yes, it's true... Henry said there could be a War-"

"Don't say stuff like that!" She interrupted me angrily. "But if what Henry said is really true, then I need you and the baby to be somewhere safe... Somewhere like Beautopia..." I explained it to her even though she wanted to hear none of it. She sighed sadly as she slowly went outside onto the bedroom's balcony. I followed her outside and gently held her body close to mine as we gazed towards the enveloping hills. Her body was shaking... "Don't worry about it, Hannah. Maybe everything will be fine in the end and we could come back home. All of us..." I didn't know what to say but I tried to comfort her in any way I could. "Maybe you're right, Louis..." She admitted sadly. "You know, I had hoped that the baby would be able to grow up somewhere safe and clean but... I guess that's just not possible anymore..." She mumbled softly. Moments passed as we just stood there gazing onto the clear skies and the lush hills in the distance. For a short while, I actually thought that everything... That everything was all right with the world. Now I know how Simon must have felt when he gazed into the skies...

"We should start getting ready to leave before Henry blow another casket..." said Hannah to which I immediately nodded in a agreeing manner and quickly went back inside. I approached our closet and pulled out a large suitcase from inside before placing it on the bed. "Did you know that you talk very loudly when you're thinking to yourself, Louis?"Hannah jokingly exclaimed from the outside. "I know... It's a nasty habit that I can't seem to get rid of..." I slightly smiled as I quickly opened the suitcase. We better get this whole thing over and done with already... "Yeah, it sure makes you such an easy person to scare."

"I guess it's a little part of my charm..." I exclaimed sarcastically as I packed Hannah's outfits first. She almost burst out laughing from my admittedly lame remark. "Please, Louis... Don't go fooling yourself with that! The very last thing you are-" I heard her suddenly gasping painfully. "What's the matter, Hannah?" I asked urgently as soon as I heard her voice beginning to change, my eyes lit up with sheer shock. "It's just the baby, Louis... He's just-" She was immediately interrupted by her sudden screams of pain. My heart immediately sank deep as I simply dropped whatever I was holding and quickly rushed towards the balcony.

As soon as I had arrived, the horrifying sight of Hannah lying on the ground greeted me, much to my overwhelming horror. Seeing her on the ground, I was almost beside myself with hysteria... "Oh my God! Hannah!" I rushed to her side before helplessly dropping down onto my knees next to her. She... She was bleeding… Oh God, there's blood everywhere! On her dress and all across the floors! "Oh God... Oh, God, what... What happened?" I stuttered the words out of my mouth with panic, gently clutching onto her entire body. My hands were shaking uncontrollably... "Louis…" She muttered weakly to me as she gritted her teeth from all of the pain. Her hands were tightly gripping onto my shoulder and shaking hands as she tries to bear the overwhelming pain. "Oh God…Oh God…" I was so shocked and stunned that I didn't know what to do. I was so pathetic…

It was literally seconds before I could finally snapped out of my terrified trance. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! HELP!" I kept yelling and yelling as loudly as I could from the balcony. The insides of my head were being torn apart with panic and confusion as my eyes darted to and fro, trying to figure out what the hell I should do next. I didn't figure out anything... Thankfully, it wasn't long before Henry suddenly burst through the doorway of the bedroom. "What the hell is go- Oh my God…" His sentence was shockingly interrupted as soon as he saw the sight of Hannah's bleeding body. "Henry!" I yelled at him. "Get the Ambulance! NOW!" Henry quickly nodded at me in agreement and immediately rushed out of the room, without a moment too soon.

"Help is coming, Hannah. Just- Just hold on… Hold on..." I silently whispered to her as she just lied there on the ground. "Louis..." She said weakly as it was getting more and more obvious that she was slowly losing grip of her consciousness and my hands. Oh God... No, no, no... I should have paid more attention! I should have paid more attention to her… This is my fault... I should have paid more attention to her... I gently rested my head against hers as tears unknowingly rolled down through my eyes...

"You're going to be alright, Hannah. Just- Just hang in there, please... Everything's going to be alright… Everything's going to be okay..."


	4. Hopeless Crescendo

Before the Mushroom War

Hopeless Crescendo

"Louis! Louis!"

Huh? What the? The sound of Henry shouting echoed throughout my ear and immediately snapped me out of my trance. "You were gone for almost an hour…" He said softly. I looked up from the cold floor of the vehicle as the rumblings of the military jeep accompanying the otherwise deafening silence. I gazed out of the tinted window over to the lush trees as the sun slowly sets behind the enveloping hills. I didn't notice that it's already evening… Everything happened so fast; it was like a blur to me. Time felt like a distant memory to me now… Why did I build the house this far off? I wanted some privacy but… I never fully took account of this happening… I was selfish and though of only myself… "Louis… She's going to be fine…" Henry said in a comforting manner as he drove the jeep carefully following the cobbled road on the hillside. I kept to myself as the rest of the drive was pretty quiet between us. I'm not a talkative person...

"So… uh… What are you holding over there?" Henry said in an attempt to break the silence. He was talking about the strange little object that I had been fiddling with this entire time. "Hannah gave it to me when she…" I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence. "I don't even know what it is." I exclaimed as I held the little white object up against the sunlight from the tinted window. It's odd that I didn't realize it was still in my hands until Henry mentioned it. I guess it was giving me a little bit of comfort… "It looks like some kind of hat, if you ask me…" He stated softly. "Yeah… Maybe you're right, Henry. It does look a little bit like a hat of some sort. The ears are a bit odd though..." I said meekly as I placed the curious little item into my pocket. "Hannah has been taking up knitting lately…" I said wearily before everything fell silent again. I don't know how much time has passed in the jeep but it felt like forever to me. I was getting impatient… I started moving around nervously in my seat as I wondered how much long until we arrived at our destination. "You should have let me stay with her, Henry!" I exclaimed suddenly to him as I stared forward at the seemingly never-ending road. "You were entirely covered in blood, Louis… Plus, you would only be a distraction to the people in the ambulance." He patiently explained it to me. I remembered how he had forced me to stay behind just so I could change my blood covered clothes instead of staying by Hannah's side. I guess it was the sensible thing to do but now I have no idea of Hannah's condition. These gnawing of doubt and unknown are literally tearing apart the insides of my head…

"I should have never built the damn house up here, Henry…" I said regretfully. He glanced at me inquisitively. "The time taken just for us to get to the closest hospital is taking too long… I should have paid more attention about her… It's my fault, Henry… This is happening all because of my stupid ignorance." "Don't blame yourself, Louis… She will get there in time. Just trust me, alright?" He smiled gently at me. Henry was always an optimist but he just doesn't understand it the same way I did. I already calculated the distance and the time it takes to get to the nearest hospital based on different speeds. Even with the advanced medical machines installed in the modern ambulance, it could not arrived there sooner enough without Hannah-… Sometimes I regret over thinking about everything. It's making everything seemed pretty much hopeless to me...

"Look alive, Louis. We're almost there…"

I looked forward from where I was sitting and saw the city of Elysium at the base of the hills. But there was something rather strange about it. Something very different… I couldn't exactly put my finger on it since I never go down here very often. I usually try my best to stay in the privacy of my own home... I like it better that way... Everything about the city especially the city's skyline seemed darker and much more gloomier than normally... It doesn't take a genius to figure out something was wrong but I'm not so sure… I was always cloistered up in the house that I couldn't even remember the last time I was down here. It wasn't long when we eventually arrived at the outer suburban town of the city. Seeing the various dilapidated buildings and the boarded up shops throughout the roads, I immediately knew something was wrong. "What the hell is going on, Henry?" I said as I gazed at all the people hunched over in the alleys and next to the streets. What happened to these people? There were barely any cars on the roads except the occasional wreckage of a vehicle in the alleyway or on the edges of the roads.

"The influences of the supposed War are spreading everywhere, Louis. Energy prices are rising... Public riots in almost every city... Fossil fuels are nearly drained from the world... You and everyone else can pretend like everything's going to be back to normal anytime soon... Or you can even pretend like it doesn't exist entirely. Well, these people could clearly feel the fallout of the world. You can clearly see the desperation and the sadness in their eyes… It's not hard to miss..." Henry coldly explained as I just sat there in shocking awe. The small worn out buildings towered over the jeep with its cascading shadow, showering dread and misery over the people. These people were wearing patched clothing and their weary eyes kept staring at me with shocked anger and hopelessness. My heart stinted with guilt and woe as their eyes were slowly turning onto me. Oh God… How long have I been isolated from the rest of the world? Could I have done something different? "I didn't realize it was this bad…" I stuttered. "The television wouldn't show everything, Louis. The news will say that it's just a smaller problem than it really is and treat it like some kind of phase that would eventually end. If you want to know what was really happening in the world, you should get out more…" Henry replied with a steely look in his eyes as we drove past the street block. I just fell silent, right there on the seat, not even sure what to say next... Without any other cars in the roads, we quickly approached closer and closer to the city. For a moment, I was hopeful that we would actually arrived at our destination sooner than I had expected… And then, out of nowhere, there were suddenly more complications... I wondered when does anything go according to the plan? Heh… The plan wasn't that good anyway…

As we approached closer to the city, I saw there was something strange going on at the end of the road. There were red colored holographic roadblocks with the words 'STOP' brightly lit up on it; The roadblocks were in the middle of the road impeding our way. Dozens of military vehicles were lining up behind the roadblocks like it was some kind of military exercise. "A checkpoint?" Henry exclaimed out of shock. "What's going on?" I asked him but he didn't answer me. Nevertheless, he continued to drive onwards to the checkpoint leaving me wondering what's going to happen next. As we arrived at the checkpoint, a soldier clad in full riot gear stood in front of the roadblock, forcing Henry to stop the jeep. "Stop right there!" The soldier yelled at us. "As opposed to what? Disco dance?" Henry replied sarcastically, much to the soldier's annoyance. I can't believe that there was still time for Henry's sarcastic remarks… "Who do you think you are, soldier?" The man exclaimed, seemingly agitated, as he approached the driver's window of the jeep. Henry slid the window down and smiled at the soldier who was greatly shocked at the sight of Henry.

"Hello there, Lieutenant." The soldier quickly stood up straight and saluted Henry. "Co… Colonel Henry, sir! Apologies, sir! I didn't know that it was you!" He stuttered nervously. "At ease, Lieutenant." The soldier lowered his hand at Henry's command. "Could you tell me the purpose of this roadblock?" Henry demanded to know from the soldier. "As you may know, Sir, the President has just issued a nation wide evacuation. All people were told to leave the major cities and towns and to head towards the nearest bunkers if possible." "So it has finally begun?" Henry exclaimed sadly. "Uh, not exactly, Sir… But the President believed it to be so. We were deployed to assist in the evacuations of this city…" My heart slowly sank as the soldier droned on explaining the situation to Henry. So the War is almost beginning… And to think, I don't even know anything about it this morning. I need to get to Hannah fast… Their conversation went on for who knows how long but it felt like forever to me and I was quickly getting impatient again… " Just ask him about the ambulance!" I suddenly chimed in by shouting. Henry whom I had to admit was very patient with me, nodded at me in an agreeing manner. "Lieutenant, did you happen to see a ambulance going past here?" The soldier seemed like he was recollecting his thoughts as he briskly stroked his stubble.

"Ah!" He finally said. "There was an ambulance that went past here not too long ago." "Well, what happened to it?" Henry inquired further. "Normally we would not let other vehicles through the checkpoint as it may disrupt the evacuation process but due to its… special emergency, we decided to let the ambulance pass the checkpoint." I felt slightly relieved when I heard what happened. Thank God Hannah at least made pass the checkpoint. Maybe she can still make it after all… "So where is it then?" I quickly asked the soldier. But before he could answer, another military truck came out of nowhere and honked loudly behind us. "Sir, I'm sorry that I have to tell you this but you're in the middle of the evacuation work." He said as he waved at the soldiers in the other truck. "I understand, Lieutenant. I would like to see your commanding officer." Henry ordered. "If you say so, Sir." He replied as he went to the roadblock and pressed his hands onto it. The holographic roadblock quickly dissipated into nothingness from the soldier's touch. We immediately drove inside the checkpoint and past the military trucks. Much to my shock, there were acres of tents behind the trucks as far as the eye can see. A makeshift metallic fence fenced off the entire area separating the army and the people. "What in the-" "A refugee camp." Henry answered immediately. Really? It doesn't even look like a refugee camp to me. It looked more like a bloody prison…

"How long has this evacuation been going?" I gasped at the rows and rows of tents and the seemingly hundreds of people living in them. "Too long… This is what happens when there are too many civilians and too little time." I didn't even know anything about this evacuation… Was that the reason why Henry came to my house in the first place? The jeep halted in front of the only standing building right before another holographic roadblock at the end of the road. A burly and serious-looking man with a prominent scar on his face came out of the building and promptly saluted Henry. Henry turned the jeep's engine off and stepped outside of the vehicle. Not sure what to do next, I promptly followed suit. "At ease, Major." said Henry as he raised his hand and saluted the Major. I just stood behind the jeep and pretended to be like a background character. "I need to know what's going on in the city, Major." Henry ordered. "What about the ambulance?" I interrupted the Major before he could even answer, resulting in his apparent anger. Henry sighed and turned to approach me. "Look, Louis… I need you to stay calm." He whispered to me in a hushed tone. "I'm sorry, Henry but I need to know about the ambulance... now..." "I understand what you're going through but you can't just interrupt everyone when they're trying to do their work." "No, you don't understand me, Henry. You don't understand me at all…" I said, my voice slowly growing more and more agitated. "Look, man… I need you to stay calm first…"

"I just want to know where the goddamn ambulance is, Henry! I need to know where she is!" I shouted at Henry, unintentionally making every soldier's eyes turned on us. Henry slowly shook his head whilst clasping his forehead before he finally patted on my shoulders. "Fine… Stay here…" He said softly as he walked back to the Major. They immediately began to converse but I couldn't exactly make out on what they were saying. They were speaking in hushed tones like they were trading confidential information or something… I sighed sadly before slowly backing away from the jeep and leaned back against the metal fence. I looked up into the clear dusk sky as the occasional fluffy cloud listing lazily by. The sky seemed so untouched by everything that's going on down here. Hannah… I wish I could tell you that… I'm sorry… I'm sorry that you had to suffer more because of my ignorance… I'm so sorry, Hannah… Huh? What's that? I thought I saw something up there in the sky... It think it was… I think it was a purple stream of light or something piercing through the clouds and jetting across the sky in mere seconds. Wow… I must be seeing things… Out of nowhere comes a purple shooting star and it's not even completely dark yet. Of course, I must be losing my mind. But… why do I get strangest feeling that I'm being watched from afar…

"Citizen, please step away from the fence!"

A robotic voice suddenly echoed from behind me. I almost leapt forward out of shock. With my heart racing, I turned around and saw a floating metallic sphere floating right in front of me. Its one camera was pointing solely at my face. Oh God… Not an Oculus sentry drone. Maybe he's the one that kept watching me... I always find these things to be quite annoying indeed. The lens inside the camera swiveled and a blinding flash followed suit. "Unauthorized civilian! Prepare to be escorted out of the premises." The droid bellowed loudly. I just stood there nervously and unsure of what to do. Loud stomping on the ground suddenly erupted as the whizzing of nearby machinery could be heard. I know those stomping footsteps anywhere in the world. After all, I created them in the first place… I turned to the direction of the stomps and quickly backed away as a hulking humanoid droid towered above me. A Peacekeeper droid… How ironic I was being pressured by my own creation… Its black camouflage and sleek metallic exoskeleton only helps making it seemed much more imposing. It raised its bulky arms and pointed them both directly towards me. I almost panicked at what it could be trying to do next but thankfully, Henry quickly ran up between the Peacekeeper droid and me.

"Whoa! Whoa! Slow down over there, big guy!" Henry yelled at the droid, waving his arms to signal it to stop. The droid immediately went motionless for a few seconds staring at us coldly with its piercing red lens. It suddenly shot a stream of infrared light at Henry's head scanning his whole face. "Colonel Henry, Sir" Its robotic voice bellowed before it slowly backed away from us and quickly folded itself back into its cube form. Henry sighed before turning around and saw me just standing there frozen stiff. "Next time… Please do not touch anything." He advised me while smiling meekly. "Sorry about that. I didn't know how things work around here." I muttered in an apologetically manner. "Don't worry about that. It's not important at all. What's important though is that I know where Hannah's ambulance is." He exclaimed, slightly proud of himself. "What happened to it? Where is she? Is she fine?" I pressed Henry with questions, waiting with bated breath and hoping to God for at least a positive answer. "Calm yourself, Louis." He gently patted my shoulder before he went back to the side of the driver's seat of the military jeep. "The situation inside the city is pretty messed up because of the looters and the public riots across the city."

"What? Will she be safe?" I was shocked to know that there were still people looting the city even in these troubled times. I can't believe them… It's not like they would be able to use some of the stuff they stolen when they're in the bunkers anyway. "Don't worry about it, Louis. A Peacekeeper droid was deployed to accompany the ambulance but… She was forced have to change her destination to a different hospital." "A different hospital? Why?" "Most of the hospitals in the city were closed and was already evacuated. So she will be going to Mercy Hospital, you know the one… It's that hospital on that small hill just right outside of the city." "Yeah… I think I know where it is." I slowly nodded trying to remember the place Henry was mentioning. "It's not that far, right?" "Yeah, it's not that far..." He said as he opened the doors of the jeep and promptly went inside. "In fact, I'm willing to bet that she will arrive at Mercy Hospital before the sun would even set." He said as he slammed the door closed. I was ecstatic just from hearing that. She'll be okay… I keep telling myself that she will be just fine… "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go to her." I exclaimed happily as I approached the jeep. What the-? The door won't budge open… "Hey Henry, I think you accidentally locked the door or something." I said but he didn't respond to me. What the hell is wrong with him? The tinted window slid down ever so slightly, revealing the grim expression on his face. "I'm not going with you, Louis..."

"What?" My heart immediately panicked. "I said I won't be going with you. I'm turning around and I'm going to leave this place behind." "But-" "I was afraid to tell you this but you won't be able to immediately leave this checkpoint since you're a civilian now. You'll have to-" "Then let me through it!" My voice flared up. "You're the goddamn colonel so do something about it!" He simply shook his head at me. "I can't do that, Louis… I need to-" "Why are you doing this to me? What could be so goddamn important that you're just leaving me here?" I shouted at him as I pounded the window with my fists. He stared directly at me with his worn out eyes and whispered, "I need to make sure my daughter is safe…" I was immediately stunned. I didn't know what to say to him… I never knew he had a daughter. I... I don't know what to do except... "Hannah will be fine, right?" I muttered under my breath. He slowly nodded reassuringly at me. "Then promise me… please promise me that you'll come back… I can't do this without your help, Henry and… I really need to see her as soon as possible…" Henry paused for a long while before he sighed softly and finally said, "Alright... You have my word, Louis. I'll come back as soon as I am able to… Just stay in the camp and don't get into trouble, alright?" I silently nodded at him and slowly backed away from the jeep. I stood there helplessly as Henry reversed and turned around his jeep. He immediately drove out of the checkpoint back through where we entered in the first place. Within a few seconds, he was gone from my sight… He left me behind all alone in this uncertain place… I turned around and oversee the entire refugee camp through the metal fence. So I… I have to wait for him here… For Hannah… I just hope to God that he hurry it up a little bit…

"Excuse me, Sir?"

A voice coming from the left of me immediately caught my attention. It was the same Major who was talking with Henry from before… He was standing next to a large gate of some sort directing me to come closer to him. Seeing as I have no other choice, I slowly approached the Major and the imposing gate. "Normally we would process the civilians before they enter the camp and await for evacuation… but the Colonel ensured us that you won't be necessary." He explained as soon as I arrived. "Okay then…" I muttered under my breath. "Open the gate!" The Major ordered a nearby soldier whom immediately turned around from where he was standing and pressed some kind of strange looking button. A loud alarm suddenly erupted from somewhere as the gate slowly slid open. "So did you ever expect to end up here, Professor Louis?" said the Major as the gates were slowly but surely sliding open. I didn't say anything to him. I was only a little bit surprised that he actually knew me…

"Who would've thought that the Father of Nano-Technology would get himself stuck in a place like this?" The Major droned on and on as I tried my best to just stand there as patiently as I could. Wow... It's been a really long time since someone called me that ridiculously stupid name again. Oh, I wish this gate would just open up already… Hurry up already! "You know, some of the people are saying that if you had just finished Project Atlas… and did something more than just hiding away from everything all this time like a frightened and sulking child, none of this would have never happened in the first place…" He exclaimed, a spiteful grin crossed ever so slightly in his meaty mug, as the gate finally opened for me. "There you go… Sir." He directed me inside the camp. I glanced menacingly at him before I whispered quietly at him, "Do not speak of things you do not fully understand, Major…"

Without turning back, I stepped through the gate and was immediately greeted by the somber sight of the entire refugee camp as I oversaw the massive camp from the top of a little stone staircase I was standing on. All of the camps were lined up in an orderly manner as if they had been here for quite a while. All of the people were either huddling around in the various campfires scattered about the area or shuffling to and fro between the tents impatiently or they're just keeping to themselves in their own tents as they wait for the time to evacuate. "So where do I stay for the night?" I called out to the Major as the imposing metal gate slid itself closed behind me with a deafening wrenching sound. "Anywhere you like. The place basically governed themselves." The Major scoffed at me as he simply walked back to the building. They- They actually governed themselves? What kind of evacuation plan is this? Does Henry even know about this? I refuse to believe someone like Henry would approve of something so stupid such as this. I bet it's the Major's 'brilliant' plan though... It angers me more to know I can't even do anything about it. I suppose I have to tell Henry about this when he returns… So… Now what? I'm not even sure of what to do next… But I guess I just have to wait... I took a reassuring deep breath before finally going down through the staircase and into the camp, uncertain of what's going to happen next…

When the people first saw me as I walked into the camp, they barely showed any interest whatsoever. Some glanced at me with their tired eyes and some of them stared at me like I was some kind of strange animal to them. But thankfully, most of the people ignored me entirely. I was walking along the camp, unsure of what to do or where to go next, until I was immediately halted by the screeching sound of my empty stomach. And then, as if on cue; I heard somebody shouting in the distance, "Dinner time, everybody! Line up! Line up! It's dinner time!" Well, since I have no idea what to do next and seeing that I have no other choice, I decided to follow the direction of the shouting. It wasn't long before I found a relatively short line leading up to a bearded old man whom was lifting some kind of crate onto other piles of crates. Seeing the short line, I assumed that I must've came early or something.

Using this unique opportunity, I quickly skipped in an awkwardly manner towards the back of the line. And true enough, dozens of other people slowly appeared and lined up behind me. "So what's for dinner, Earl?" Somebody asked the old man. "It's not much for tonight. There's only bread and dried crackers over here. The best I could give are some fresh apples…" The man answered, much to the apparent dismay of some of the people. In the next few minutes, the line slowly moved on as I waited patiently. Thankfully, it wasn't long before I reached the end of the line. "Hurry up, people… Hurry up… Here you go, pal." The old man without glancing away from the inside of the crate, forcefully handed me a fresh bright red apple and quickly pushed me aside before I could even utter a single word. Well, okay then… That was a little strange but at least I got a fresh apple out of it. I was about to take a bite out of the apple but as luck would had it, I suddenly heard a soft voice from behind me. "Is… Is there anymore apples?"

"Sorry, little girl but I'm afraid I'm all out until tomorrow." As soon as I heard the word 'little girl', I immediately turned around and saw a little child wearing raggedy clothing and a dirty makeshift shawl covering her entire head. "Don't be sad, kid… Here… Some extra crackers… Just for you..." The old man generously gave the little girl two small packets of dried crackers. "Thank you…" The little girl somberly thanked the old man before slowly walking away and approaching directly towards me. When she bumped into me, she looked up and saw me holding the apple; a sad frown crossed her pale, somewhat a little bluish face. Her sad stare immediately made my heart sank as I glanced at the apple in my hand. Oh, Louis... What's wrong with you? I silently sighed to myself before I finally knelt down right in front of her. "Here. Take it…" I said politely. "Really?" She asked in complete disbelief. "Yeah… You need it a lot more than I do." "Thanks!" She grinned happily at me, revealing some very pointy teeth, as she snatched the red apple from my very hand. "Your wel-" She quickly ran away from me and was immediately gone from my sight.

Even though I just lost my food, I felt quite happy with myself… I can't believe a small child like her was still in this kind of place. I thought it was always women and children first… Or did I forgot the memo... Hey, what's this? A small packet of crackers was resting neatly on the ground where the little girl was standing previously. I stifled a smile as I picked the packet up. I guess we're both even now… "That was really nice of you, man..." A young blonde man with piercing blue eyes suddenly called out from behind me. "Oh, you saw that?" I smiled nervously. "Kindness like that is pretty rare here. Here, man... Why don't you take some of my food instead?" He smiled broadly at me. "But I-" Before I could even tell him about my packet of crackers, he quickly gave me another packet of crackers before quickly walking away and disappear into the crowd. Okay... That was certainly random indeed... But hey, I got no qualms with some extra sustenance for myself...

I was continuing with the walking around aimlessly in the camp all by myself. Well, at least I got rid of my completely empty stomach now. Now it's just partially empty... I only ate one packet of crackers though because I've decided to save one for the future. I dusted my hands to get rid of the remaining cracker crumbs from my hands as I surveyed the rest of the camp. The metallic fence lined around the entire camp seemingly fencing off the entire area. I still say that it looked more like a bloody prison than a refugee camp… At the corner of my eye, I noticed a small tent in the distance. It was in comparatively worst condition with the rest of the camp but it was empty and seemingly unoccupied by anybody. I slowly approached the small tent and waited for a while in case if anyone comes over to claim it. After what seemed like a long while, there was still no one to come and claim the tent. A part of me was telling me to just take the tent and I had to admit that I was really tempted but in the end, I finally decided against it. I didn't know why... I guess I just wanted to feel like the world wasn't rid of common decency just yet. I thought that by stealing the tent, I would hate myself in the end... Well, that made me sounded really ridiculous...

I decided to just sit down beside the tent in a curled up position. It ain't much but at least the small tent would provide some kind of calming shade to me. It's not like I need it though with the Sun slowly disappearing into the horizon and all that but whatever... I continued to sit there on the spot, unsure of what's going to happen next. I was trying to hide it but in the inside, I was actually very scared out of my mind... I didn't know what's going on around the world... Hopefully, Hannah would already arrive at Mercy Hospital as Henry said she would… I'm not sure what to do next but for some reason, something suddenly told me to take out my glass hand phone from my pocket. Much to my non-existent shock, there was barely any signal. I flipped through the phone and realize that I don't have anything in the phone. No pictures... No messages that's not related to work... It made me realize that I haven't been living my life at all. There was barely any contacts... There's Hannah and then there's Simon... Out of worried curiosity, I pressed the call button on Simon's contact number and waited for what seemed a long while, but as I have expected, there was simply no answer in the end. Nothing at all... I guess the signal is still pretty bad. I just hope that Simon and Betty is safe... Maybe they're lucky and have already been evacuated from their home. My contacts list wasn't that long... And that was pretty much it actually. All that's left is some other people that I'm trying to forget about and... and... Mom...

Mother... I haven't talked to her for quite a long while. Oh God, I hope she's safe... My finger quickly pressed the call button unintentionally and I immediately regretted the decision. Damn you, finger! Why didn't you consort with the brain first? Oh well... It's not like I could even call her with this kind of sign- She answered! How did that even happen? It was pretty ridiculously strange but I can't question it right now. Unknowingly, I slowly pressed the phone at my ear. "He... Hello?" I said but there was no respond at first. Only fuzzy silence from the other end... "Louis? Is that you, Louis?" A familiar woman's voice suddenly called out to me amidst the fuzzy reception. "Mom!" I yelled. "Louis! How in the world are you calling me? I thought that-" "That's not important right now, Mom. Are you safe? Where are you?" There was silence again... "I'm... I'm still at home, Louis." I immediately jumped up in shock as soon as I heard her soft words.

"What the-? Are you kidding me? What the hell are you still there? Get out of there, Mom! Don't you know that there could be a bloody War happening anytime soon?" I desperately screamed into my phone. "I know, Louis... I know..." What is wrong with her? "Then why are you still there? I... I can send somebody to get you! Or maybe I could come get you right now!" Truth be told, I didn't know what I could have done. I just wanted her to get to safety already. "Louis..." "Please, Mother... For the love of God, get out of there..." I begged and I begged. "Louis, I wanted to stay..."

"But... But why?" Tears were slowly filling up in my eyes. "Your dad is gone... All my friends are gone... I'm alone now but I know I lived a long and very good life, Louis." Why is she saying all this nonsense? "But... But what about me? You can't just leave me alone like that..." "You know that I won't be able to be with you forever, Louis... But there's always Hannah to stay by your side, right? How is she, by the way? Are you both safe and sound?" Her gentle words gave me a moment of doubt of what to say. "We're... uh... We're safe... in Beautopia..." In the end, I didn't want to tell her the truth and make her worry about me. I guess I just wanted to give her some sort of clarity in her mind. "That's good to hear..." She stifled a sad laugh. "I hope that you two will be safe through it all... I'm so sorry that I wouldn't be able to see the child when he comes, Louis. How many months has it been already?"

What should I have said? "Don't worry about it, Ma. I forgot to tell you that the baby already came... It's a boy... A big healthy boy. We named him Finn, in honor of Hannah's father. Did you hear that, Mom? You have a grandson... You have a healthy grandson..." I managed to stutter the words from my mouth, barely containing my own tears. I could hear her laughing softly from the other end albeit a little bit sad. "Mom, I'm sorry about Dad..." I finally coughed up the words. "I already forgave you a long time ago, Louis..."

"No, it's not... It's just... I'm so sorry about everything I ever did. I'm sorry for every mean thing I ever said to you... I just wanted to say you're the best Mom anyone could ask for. You and Dad believed in me when everyone called me crazy and I wanted to thank you for everything you guys had done for me..." I was already sobbing to myself as I slowly paced restlessly in place, my body felt like it grew weaker... "Louis..." She said softly as she could hear my cries and sobs. "I love you, Mama... I love you so much... Please keep me safe... When you go..." I couldn't even talk properly anymore... "I... I love you too, Louis..." It was then the line was immediately cut off...

"...Hello? Mama?" I said nervously. There was no answer... "Mama?" She was finally gone... "Mama?" She's gone, Louis... I told myself in disbelief. She was gone... "Awwwwww... No, no, no..." I nonsensically muttered and whined to myself as I tightly clutched onto my head, an aching headache suddenly coursed throughout it. "No... Please, no... Oh God... No..." I couldn't hold back the tears anymore as I finally broke down crying as I weakly took a few steps forward. It felt like my body grew weaker every time my feet touched the ground. I was just crying... There's nothing else to say... I was just crying. My body finally grew numb and lifeless as I helplessly fell down onto the ground, tears rolling down my face. I didn't know how long I was lying there on the cold ground as I cried... but all of my senses felt like they were slowly going numb... Eventually, the whole world surrounding me grew darker and darker as my head gently slipped away into the darkness...

"I love you, Mama and Papa... I love you..."


	5. Last Night

Before the Mushroom War

Last Night

"Go get her, Doug!"

"Where the hell did she go?"

"Over there! She's over there!"

I suddenly shot up from the ground, gasping for air and loudly panting to regain my breath. Ugh… My God… It feels like my head was twisted apart from the very insides. I blinked my eyes repeatedly as I was getting used to the sudden darkness surrounding me. It was then that I finally realized that it was already nighttime in the refugee camp or at least I think so… I'm not so sure how much time has passed since I... blacked out... Out of nowhere, I was suddenly coughing desperately for oxygen... For some reason, it's been getting harder and harder for me to breathe lately. To my surprise, I realized that I was lying down onto the cold and dusty ground. My head hurts like hell... What in the world happened to me? I noticed my glass hand phone was right beside my head on the ground with its light blinking on and off repeatedly. Mystified, I slowly reached for the phone and gently picked it up. When I gleaned over the phone, it was set on the contacts list and the cursor was selected on… Mom… Oh… Now I remember what had happened...

Oh God… My heart felt like it wasn't making a single sound as I tightly clasped my forehead, hoping that it would provide the least bit of comfort from the aching headache. My eyes were completely dried up and felt extremely sore. I just feel nothing inside me... The thought of being all alone makes me afraid... I struggled to drag myself away from where I was originally lying as my legs felt like they were numb to the bone. I was practically helpless… When I finally couldn't drag myself anymore, I slowly sat back up to a curled position and tried my best to warm myself up in the middle of this cold night. I was getting too weak to crawl myself towards a distant campfire and I would hate to think what the other people would do to me. Some might call me paranoid but I'm only being cautious...From my past experience, desperation could force a man do the worst of things... Right now, my best plan of action is to keep to myself until Henry gets back eventually. That is IF he gets back... No! I have to be positive and just hope for the best. For Hannah... I just don't know what's going to happen next to me… And I feel so all alone and vulnerable in this freaking place…

Minutes had passed and I was just sitting down there, closely following my plan of minding my own business and ignoring everything else. And it seemed like the plan might succeed at first, had it not been for the sudden loud and crazy shouting in the distance. Out of curiosity and just plain "What the heck is that sound?", I looked up from my curled position and tried to find out what kind of nonsense is going on nearby. What could all that nonsensical shouting be about? And then as if on cue to answer my admittedly ridiculous question, a familiar looking little girl suddenly landed right on the ground in front of me, seemingly out of nowhere. My shocked expression met her cold stare, which was partially covered by the patched shawl, as she just stood there nonchalantly. I immediately realized that it was the very same girl from this evening to whom I gave the red apple to. What is she doing here?

"There! I found her! She's over there!" A sudden loud shouting pierced throughout the otherwise quiet night. As soon as I could hear the screaming again, the little girl quickly dashed off to another direction. Wow! She was incredibly fast! It was freaking amazing! It was unbelievable... And then following closely right behind her, three fully-grown men wearing their own raggedy outfits suddenly rushed past me as they head towards the direction of the little girl. "Come back here, you damned thief!" One of them desperately screamed, his brutish voice echoing throughout the rest of the camp. What the heck just happened? What did the little girl even do? A small part of me was telling me to stay out of this and keep to myself. Stick to the plan! I cried out... Stick to the plan, Louis! But I was already half way struggling to stand back up. I knew I was going to get involve in something ridiculously stupid and possibly dangerous... Heh... If Hannah could only see me now...

I was stumbling around like a drunken fool, trying my best to not accidentally cross my legs and trip myself. My numb as hell legs and aching headache were certainly not helping at all in this matter. It didn't take that long before the three men and the little girl were already gone from my sight. Now I'm just blindly following in their last known general direction. At this rate, the Sun would come and go before I could even save that girl... Goddamn it! I gritted my teeth and decided to bear through all the pain in my head and in my legs as I charged forward into the darkness, desperately trying to find the little girl again. "Guys! She's here! I got her cornered!" A distant voice echoed throughout the night. I finally found those punks... Overwhelmed with pain, I immediately dashed into the general direction where I last heard the loud shouting. And sure enough, near an abandoned corner of the refugee camp, they were there...

I quickly crouched down and hid myself amongst the darkness so that I could observe them as I try to slowly regain my bearings. They were cornering the girl against what appears to be an overturned wreckage of a rusted van in an obscure part of the camp. How could a van somehow even get in here? I have absolutely no idea... One of life's mysteries, I suppose... Maybe it was there before they set up the metal wall or something. "We got you now, little girl..." One of the men scowled at her as he edged slightly closer to her. "Yeah, we're going to teach you a lesson about stealing our food from us... and maybe some manners about treating your grown-ups..." Another guy smiled menacingly at her. What the hell is wrong with these people? For the love of God, that's just a child... Don't they even care?

I was kind of surprised at how the girl just stood there not giving a single damn about what they were saying and what they were trying to do to her. I've got to hand it to her, she's clearly not your average little girl, that's for sure. There's- There's just something so different about her... One of the 'gentlemen' knelt down and quickly picked up a nearby large rock from the ground and immediately start brandishing it like it was some sort of weapon. What was the guy really thinking in his head? I am sure that destructive weapon would be suitable and powerful enough to combat the horrible monstrosity of that little girl... The thugs were slowly edging closer and closer to the little girl, who seemingly wasn't moving or trying to escape at all. I thought that she had some kind of secret master plan or something... But after a while, I don't think that would be the case anymore... This is not going anywhere. I have to do something... I have to save her!

"Hey! Stop it!" I instinctively called out to them, without pausing to think at all. They all jumped in shock at the sudden sound of my voice before immediately turning around to see me, angry scowls and wry grins quickly replacing the shocked expressions on their faces. "Who the hell are you?" One of them shouted threateningly at me. "I'm no one; just a normal guy, that's all... No one dangerous..." I exclaimed as I slowly walked out from the darkness and into the open, raising my arms in the air to show that I meant them no harm. "Look, I don't want any trouble, alright? I just want you to leave that little girl alone..." I begged them but by the look on their faces, I'm guessing my pleas were obviously falling on deaf ears.

"She's a fucking thief, man! Do you know what we do to thieves over here?" The guy with the large stone tightened his grip around his odd weapon of choice as if he was getting impatiently excited. This is not good... I don't think I can talk them out of this crazy nonsense even if I tried my hardest. "Hey, wait! Tell me what did she steal!" I suddenly exclaimed, trying to redirect their attention from the girl. "She stole our fucking apples, man. Do you know how long we have been saving those goddamn apples? And that girl thinks she can just steal it from us!" I could see one of the men were already getting agitated and seemingly more dangerous. "She's just a child! She needs it a lot more than you do! Can't you just let her go and walk away like nothing happened? It's not worth it..." I tried one more time to see if I could appeal to their humanity...

"No! We have to teach that little bitch a lesson to not steal from us again!" The bald and burliest of the three shouted back at me. He sounded pretty determined, which is really bad... I have to do something, "Okay, calm down! Calm down! Just calm down... I don't have any apples in me but I have a packet of crackers right here. It may not be much but right now, it's worth a lot." The men seemed to be slowly calming down, just from the simple mention of food. "I'm going to give you the crackers, no strings attached, and all you have to do is let the little girl go... Agreed?" I smiled innocently as I gave them my offer, unsure of what will happen next. One of the men which was the bald and burly guy paced around for a while, contemplating my offer to himself. You can practically hear the clunks of gears inside his head as he's trying to think...

"Okay! I've made my mind! We're going to let the girl go..." The bald man finally said, much to the painful anguish to the guy with the large rock. I'm assuming the bald guy is the leader or something, judging on how the other two loyally followed his decision. I simply nodded in an agreeing manner at the leader and slowly took out the packet of crackers from my pocket. I then raised both of my hands again to show that I don't have anything else besides the crackers. I carefully approached the bald man whilst keeping a safe distance from the other two, especially the esteemed fellow with the large rock, so that I couldn't get ambushed or something. I was hoping that the girl would be smart enough to take this opportunity and run away but for some reason, she's just standing there staring directly at me with a strangely calm demeanor. Why doesn't she just run away right now? As soon as I finally reached the leader, he slowly outstretched his hand towards me. I gently placed the packet of crackers onto his outstretched hand and-

"Oof!" The fucking bastard sucker punched me firmly in my jaw, out of bloody nowhere. Incredibly shocked, I quickly backed away as the sight of three blurry silhouettes were edging towards me. It must've gave me quite the concussion as everything, even the world around me, started to seem fuzzy to me. At the sight of one blurry figure suddenly rushing towards me, I instinctively moved my body out of the way, firmly leaving one of my legs as a would-be tripwire. The satisfying sight of the figure tripping from my legs and immediately falling face first into the ground below greeted me, much to my partial glee. Ha! Got him! I quickly turned to face the other two figures, witnessing the burly bald guy from before menacingly approaching me whilst brandishing his meaty fists right towards me. The guy carrying the large rock was just swinging it around, pretending to contribute by shouting supportive commands like "Go get him, Doug!" or "Beat that, sunvabitch!" Oh my God, I didn't know I was fighting a group of gentlemen...In fact, why am I even fighting? I'm surprised I'm still standing!

I slowly backed away to try and keep my distance from the burly guy, whom quickly pounced forward and started throwing punches left and right. I managed to dodged his ineffective punches by simply back-stepping out of the way. When the burly guy finally started to seemed fatigued, I used the opportunity to quickly grabbed onto the wrist of one of his meaty arms with a firm grip. With a shocked expression on his face, I pulled him closer to me as I quickly turned my back towards him. I carefully bent my knees and quickly mustered up all of my energy; It was then I simply pushed my legs with all of the force I could gather, immediately lifting the burly man from the ground and sent him hurling through the air. I slightly smiled at the sight of that jackass landing face first onto the ground with a loud thumping sound. That's for punching me, you bastard! Ha! Ha! And that's what you get for messing with a guy who's married to a martial arts expert, assholes! But then, I quickly turned around only to be greeted with the sight of a fist landing directly onto my lower right jaw. Out of sheer pain, I couldn't fight back anymore as I immediately stumbled backwards in a careless manner before finally dropping head first onto the ground below me. Well, that outright killed all of the confidence I just had...

"Thaatsshh wasth youe geet foour mesinghs witsh ursh!" The guy's voice echoed nonsensically through my ears as I couldn't even understand at what he was trying to say. My concussion must've gotten worst... "Agh! Fuck... you all..." I helplessly screamed at their hazy silhouettes slowly surrounding me on the ground. And to add to my aching head, the burly bastard immediately repaid what I did to him by stomping me squarely on my chest with his heavy boots. I almost threw up my non-existent lunch as I coughed desperately for air on the ground. "Nooow geit ther guirl!" Oh fuck! I don't need to have a clear head to know what he was trying to say. "No! Don't you dare!" I yelled as I struggled to stand back up onto my feet; but I immediately lost my balance causing me stumble around on the ground like a helpless idiot. No... I can't... What am I even doing? I'm freaking hopeless... I'm- I'm sorry, little girl...

"Ohh miuy Gob! Au menstoeur! Sher's ao fruckting daemun!" The sudden frightened screams immediately caught my attention... What the hell is going on? I couldn't see anything at all because the world still felt like it was spinning and dancing around me. "Guysh! Heaelp me out! Ouh God!" At least I think my hearing was slowly returning back to normal. I tried to look up from where I was lying on the ground and squinted my eyes, concentrating as hard as I could to see just what in the world was going on. The very first thing I saw was the same bald brute who sucker punched me from before, face planting onto the ground and slid across it like he just got pushed by something with great strength. I saw the same guy with the large stone immediately drop his super weapon and ran away with his tail firmly stuck between his legs, leaving the others behind. The third guy helped the bastard on the ground to stand back up and they both immediately ran away like a bat out of hell. What... What the hell just happened to them?

I then saw the blur silhouette of the little girl casually approaching towards me, surprisingly indifferent at what just happened. She immediately knelt down beside my body and promptly poked me repeatedly on the head as she whispered, "Are you still alive?" "Ugh... I'm fine..." I moaned in pain as I was still feeling a little bit sore throughout my body and mostly my head. "Don't worry about me..." I stuttered as I was slowly but surely getting back up from the ground. She just nodded at me before she immediately walked away, right back towards the nearby overturned van. Okay, that was a little strange... I-I just need to lie down for a while, take a moment to breathe and be calm... The whole world was starting to seemingly slow down around me as the numbing pain inside my head started to fade away. Okay, I think I'm good...

"You didn't have to help me..." She said softly, not even looking back at me as she approached her van. "Now, please leave me alone..." She quickly added coldly before she immediately jumped into the gaping hole where the back doors of the van were supposed to be. Ouch... that's kind of cold... Okay, I think I had enough with the taste of dirt on my face... I gathered up what remaining strength I had and let out a short burst of energy to push my arms and legs from the ground. And after a short while, I finally succeeded to get back up onto my own two feet, albeit still feeling a little bit woozy in the head. It was a good thing for me that the brutish guy wasn't anything like Henry and doesn't know how to properly punch someone or I bet my head would certainly be much, much worse. As I took one last breath of air and trying to compose myself, I realized that I was the only one standing around here. Thinking loudly to myself... It was completely empty over at this part of the camp except for that overturned van. I guess no one wanted to stay here... Well, it is the furthest part to where all the evacuation trucks are. Well, it's over now and the little girl is safe so maybe I should leave...

I continued to stare at the nearby rusted old van for what felt like quite a while. I don't know why... but I couldn't help but wonder about the girl... I don't know why... but something inside me keeps telling me to go check on her. A gut feeling, maybe... I finally caved in to this probably dumb feeling as I slowly and carefully approached the back of the van, half stumbling all the entire way. I guess I'm still not back to my hundred percent right now... As I arrived at the back of the van, I carefully peered inside and saw a wall of tattered cloth hanging from the ceiling, which was also the floor of the van, blocking my entire view. "I told you to leave me alone." I immediately jerked away as the cloth was quickly slid open. And there she was standing right in front of me with her fists clenched and her blood curdling stare held directly at me. The night seemingly complimenting her pale and somewhat a little bluish skin. "What do you want?" She demanded from me. "I... I just wanted to know if you're okay." I muttered nervously. Her cold facial expression suddenly changed slightly as her blood curdling stare briefly disappeared... "Uhm... I'm fine..." She said softly, not even looking directly at me. "Now please... leave me alone..." She quickly added before she immediately slid the tattered cloth closed right on my face.

I wanted to leave... I really wanted to... But I don't know why; but something told me to stay here instead... It's like I'm feeling that I was suppose to be here... Boy, do I sound pretty stupid right now... "Have you been living here all this time?" I asked the girl as I surveyed the old rusted van, trying to strike up a conversation with her. "Yes..." She muttered coldly. Okay, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing right now... I have to try a different approach to her. "My name's Louis, by the way... What's your name?" "Why do you even care? I told you I'm fine so... please leave..." She said, sounding slightly exasperated at my mere presence. I wasn't sure of what I should say to her. I'm not exactly experienced in handling this kinds of situations. Hannah is usually the expert in this matter... "Um... Where's your mother?" "Gone..." She said, her voice briefly drowned in a very sad and depressed tone. Oh God, what have I done? "Uh- Um... What about your father?" I quickly added out of panic. "He's not here anymore..." Her voice lowered to almost nothing... Okay, it's now official! I suck handling with kids... I don't even know why I'm having a son if I had known that I suck this much! Oh God, I just drove right into a freaking brick wall over here... Now what?

"So... So you're alone then?" I muttered nervously. There was no response from her... Nice one, Louis! I guess she's finally ignoring me... Pretty much understandable, really... Oh, fine already, I bloody give up... "That's okay, I guess... I'm- I'm all alone too..." I whispered softly, defeated and given up, as I turned my back towards the rusted van and silently gazed up into the night sky hanging above me. To my pleasant surprise, there was a full moon shining brightly tonight amongst the dozens and dozens of glistening stars hanging in the veiled night sky. I noticed with the overall darkness from the city, it was a very bright night... Beautiful, too... "Wait... You're- You're alone?" The girl finally answered back to me, much to my pleasant surprise. "Yeah... I am..." I hesitated to admit it. "Why are you all alone?" She sounded so curious about me...

"Well first of all, I have absolutely no idea how my best friend is doing... Or what's happening to my only friend that could help me." I started slowly but I unknowingly carried on... "For all I know, he could be miles away and have already forgotten about me... He doesn't have to come back to me..." Tears, full of sorrow and dread, were slowly filling up the empty mirrors known as my eyes... "And I'm stuck here alone... Knowing that I probably won't ever be able to see my mother again... and I'm f-... angry to know that my wife is somewhere far away from me... She's in great pain right now and there's nothing that I could do about it... I'm so useless... and helpless that I can't even be at her side..." I didn't notice a single tear crossing my face as I unintentionally explained how I really felt. To a little girl, no less... I closed my tear-filled eyes as I angrily clenched my fists tightly; A numbing sensation coursed throughout my entire arms and legs... I feel like I just want to punch something really hard right now, simply out of anger and spite... But then, I suddenly felt a gentle touch on my shoulder, which immediately made the spiteful feeling inside me gone in an instant. It was like magic... I slowly turned around to see the small girl standing before me and smiling ever so sweetly at me. "Marceline..." She whispered in a sweet and comforting voice. "...Wha- What?"

"My name... It's Marceline..."


	6. Eve of Mischief

Before the Mushroom War

Eve of Mischief

"It was very nice to meet you, Marceline…"

I smiled as I quickly wiped the single tear from my eye, slightly embarrassed at my unintentional breakdown. She simply smiled at me as she nodded understandingly at me before she decided to join me and sat at the edge of the overturned van. I noticed that she wasn't wearing her ragged cloak and patched shawl this time. It makes me wonder why she was even wearing it in the first place though. This time, she was wearing a dirty old purple pinafore completed with a blouse of a bright shade of red under it. The little red shoes she was wearing seemed worn out and at the brink of being completely torn and useless. She had very scruffy short hair which was as black as midnight, covering both of her ears and almost covering her... Whoa... I just realized that she had clear crimson eyes... That's... uh... That's a very rare pigmentation she had the luck to be born with. I never thought that I actually get to see someone who was naturally gifted with them... Anyway other than the fact that she just made three guys run away in fear not a few moments ago, she seemed so normal and innocent...

"Sometimes, I love to just stop and stare at the stars." She said softly as she gazed into the night sky. "Yeah... It's very beautiful..." I added to her statement. "Sometimes when I look up, it makes me remember about my mom." She suddenly said, her voice changed to a sad tone. I was afraid to ask... "...How so?" "Well... my mother was... gorgeous... Watching the stars every night, it reminded me about how beautiful she really was... and it makes me remember how she loved to dance so much. I still remember the times when she tried to teach me how to dance this ridiculous thing called the ballet, even if I never wanted to in the first place. When she was... gone... I like to think that she's up there in the night sky, dancing happily among the stars... waiting for me..." She explained somberly, her soft voice stinted my heart as her gaze quickly turned back towards the ground. "Well... she sounds like an amazing woman... Marceline..." I said softly, trying to hopefully comfort her. "She is..."

There was then a moment of silence between us; I'm not exactly sure what to say to her. I didn't want to offend her again..."What about your mother?" She suddenly asked me immediately breaking the silence between us. I was quite surprised at her sudden question and I really didn't know what to say... "She... uh..." I stuttered, trying to hold back the sadness inside me as fragments of the conversation I had with her briefly flashed through my mind. "How is she like?" Marceline sweetly smiled in a comforting manner at me. I took a long and deep breath before finally saying, "She... was a loving woman and she was always so cheerful... She never took a single day for granted as she lived her entire life and... She always had this pretty stupid thing that she believed in..." I accidentally chuckled to myself as memories of my mother began to unintentionally flood into my head.

"What's so funny? What did she believed in?" Marceline smiled nervously, pleasantly confused at my strange behavior. "She always believed that we're all just lost lovers and that when we finally find the one we used to love, we'll never forget about them... We'll never abandon them... She once said to me that she sees hope in everyone... Hope that everyone will one day find who they used to love and they will be happy together... That's actually how she met my dad." I smiled longingly as I gazed at the bright moon in the night sky, feeling slightly... sad. "Your mother sounds so... perfect. I'm happy for you, Louis..." She said softly, seemingly a bit depressed at my story... Another long silence immediately erupted between us. Well, this is getting more and more awkward...

"How long have you been living here?" It was my turn to break the silence between us as I tried to strike up a conversation with the little girl sitting beside me. "Pretty long..." She answered cryptically. "Well, what about your... dad, Marceline? Does... Does he know you're still here?" I asked her, carefully choosing my words so that I won't offend her yet again. Much to my dismay, Marceline's smile quickly disappeared from her face before she simply muttered under her breath, "I don't really like talking about my dad, if you don't mind..." "I... I see..." I nervously stuttered before I just nod understandingly at her. I learned that sometimes it's best if I don't pry that deep into someone else's life. It's their life and you don't need to know every detail about it...

She simply smiled at me, grateful that I somewhat understood her... "It's starting to rain..." She suddenly states out loud. What? Really? She wasn't even looking at the sky so... Mystified, I immediately looked up into the sky and saw lo and behold, there wasn't even a single cloud in the sky at all. At least, not that I could see... Confused, I turned back to her and smiled jokingly. "How did you kn-" Before I could finish my lame joke, a light drizzle of rain suddenly came down on top of us, out of nowhere. I was simply awestruck... But Marceline nonchalantly stood up from the edge of the van and promptly went back inside the van like it was nothing to her. "Marceline?" I cried out, feeling a bit worried about her sudden silence. "You're welcome to stay inside until the rain is gone..." She called out to me from the inside. Okay... Should I take her up on the offer? I was slightly hesitant at first but seeing as there's no other choice in the matter and outside in the middle of the rain was certainly not an inviting place to sleep for the night, I eventually shrugged to myself and slowly crept inside the overturned van... As they always say back in the day: Never look a gift horse in the mouth...

I slid open the tattered cloth blocking the entryway of the van, revealing a spacious and surprisingly open room inside it. There was some more dirty cloth draping over the cracked windows of the van and covering the entire floor. A small metal can with a candle inside it was hanging from the ceiling, which was actually the floor of the van, enlightening the entire vehicle. A makeshift lantern? This girl keeps surprising me more and more... The driver's seat and the passengers seat was seemingly used for storage as I could see little wooden boxes were neatly tied to the seats by some pretty sturdy looking rope. It seemed to me like it was a would-be cabinet of some kind. The ragged cloak and the patched shawl that she wore from before was hanging at the side of the entryway by two rusted hooks. Wow... I was simply amazed by Marceline's resourcefulness.

Speaking of which, where is she? I surveyed the van for her but there seems to be no apparent signs of her. But then I heard some loud rustling suddenly coming from behind of the driver's seat. I was partially relieved to see that it was just her fiddling around with some of the wooden boxes. Wow... I noticed that those boxes were almost filled completely by fresh red apples. Nothing else but red apples... That's kind of strange, I guess... But hey, crackers aren't exactly a very enticing food compared to apples. Eventually, I finally mustered up the nerve to calm myself a little before slowly kneeling down onto the tattered cloth of the floor, trying to make myself comfortable. I'm always nervous whenever I'm in someone else's humble abode...

As I sat there nervously; It wasn't long before she came out from behind the overturned driver's with a little wooden box. "What's that?" I asked her, pointing towards the strange object of a box. "It's... uh... It's nothing..." She stifled a weak smile at me as she promptly tries to hide the box behind her back, her cheeks slightly shone a pinkish red. Well, that's not suspicious at all... Not suspicious at all... Marceline promptly sat down on the floor right across from me, still trying her best to hide the obvious wooden box behind her back. I then for some reason, pretended that I didn't notice anything strange at all as I turned my gaze to a different direction entirely. At the corner of my eye, I saw her smiling slyly, seemingly glad that she managed to hide the little box. She then turned her back towards me before placing the strange wooden box right in front of herself. What is this curious little girl doing?

Marceline slowly and gently opened the little wooden box; For some reason and much to my pleasant surprise, she started humming softly to herself. Wow... She seemed like she was in her own little world or something... Marceline then continued to hum cheerfully to herself for what seemed like a long while. I couldn't help but to stare at Marceline silently humming to herself, an amazed and pleasantly surprised expression written all across my face. Who is this little girl? And why do I feel like she's someone very important? Eventually, she felt something strange for some reason, and quickly turned around only to finally caught me curiously staring at her. "...What? What are you looking at?" She blushed nervously as she rolled her eyes in embarrassment. "I'm sorry that I was disturbing you but... I couldn't help but wonder what exactly were you doing?" I smiled inquisitively at her.

She seemed like she hesitated to show me at first but after a short while, she simply closed her crimson eyes and nodded to herself in an agreeing manner. I guess she was discussing with herself... Marceline immediately stood up from the ground and promptly sat back down next to me whilst carrying the curiously small wooden box. "It's a very special box of mine..." She muttered as she held the little box under the light of the makeshift lantern. Now that I got a clear look at the box, I noticed that it was intricately carved with all kinds of floral patterns and seemed to be finely crafted to the tiniest detail with its elaborate design. Whoever made this box clearly took quite a lot of time to make it...

"My Mom used to always sing me this lullaby song when I was a baby. Sometimes, it really helps me to sleep at night..." She longingly explained to me as I paid my full attention towards the little box. "When she was gone... It's... It's all I have left of her..." She said softly as she gently opened the wooden box revealing a little white cushioned compartment with two golden colored odd-shaped metals resting neatly inside it. "It's... It's her brooch that she used to wear all the time..." Marceline finished, sounding a little bit depressed but also slightly relieved to get it off her chest. "...Her brooch?" I asked in disbelief as I glanced at the two odd-shaped metals inside the cushioned compartment. That doesn't look like any other brooches I ever seen. So I was slightly surprised when Marceline gently nodded at me and told me it's a brooch. "I know it's broken... but sometimes... Sometimes I like to look down at the brooch and sing her lullaby before I sleep every night. It... It makes me feel safe... It makes me feel like she's still there with me..." She muttered softly as she gazed longingly at the broken brooch. "Marceline..." I didn't know what to say except it was possibly the sweetest thing I ever heard. It actually reminded me a little bit about my own mother and I... At that moment, I didn't know exactly what came over my head... It could've been another one of my half-baked ideas or something much more... But I decided I just wanted to make her smile again... Make her happy...

"Can I see the box, please?" Marceline seemed very hesitant and greatly confused from my sudden request. "Don't worry, Marceline... I'll be extra careful. I just want to inspect the brooch a bit more, if you don't mind." I smiled at her reassuringly. "Well... Okay... But please be very careful..." She finally agreed at my sudden request and slowly handed me the wooden box. I immediately held the box up to the light of the canned lantern and proceeded to inspect the broken brooch inside it a little bit further. It appeared like the brooch was somehow destroyed by something very powerful but thankfully, the brooch seemed sturdy enough that it's still mostly intact... There were all kinds of colorful gemstones encrusted on the edges of the odd metal pieces, forming some kind of shape but I'm not so sure what it is... Both of the pieces were so deformed that it was pretty hard to tell what the original shape was. "Do you know what your mother's brooch looked like from before? When it was still brand new..." I asked her as I gleaned over the broken brooch.

She then tried her best to recollect all of her past memories as she gazed into empty space. After a while, her eyes finally lit up with excitement as she quickly exclaimed, "I think I got it! I think... Uh... I think it was in the shape of a bat. A golden bat!" A golden bat? That's certainly quite an odd choice for a brooch... but who am I to judge? So if it's really in the shape of a bat, then the pieces are not really that damaged at all... If I just rearrange it here and there... Yeah, maybe I could do it but... It's certainly a possibility... "Um... Louis... Are you okay?" Marceline suddenly asked, interrupting my entire train of thought. "Hmm?" I finally looked up from the box and saw Marceline staring at me with a weird look on her eyes. It was like she just witnessed something strange and perplexing... "Um, Louis... You were... talking to yourself... For quite a while..." She oddly exclaimed. "I was?" She slowly nodded at me with her eyebrows raised in disbelief and confusion. Uh... I really don't know what to say... I always keep forgetting about my strange habit...

"I... got some good news, Marceline... That's right! Some very good news!" I smiled nervously, hoping that it would quickly change the subject at hand. "Okay... what's the good news?" She said, seemingly a bit befuddled at my peculiar behavior from before but quickly moved on. I gently closed the box firmly and smiled at her before I happily exclaimed, "I can fix the brooch!" "Really? You really think you can fix it?" She shouted excitedly, her eyes immediately lit up with all kinds of disbelief and amazement at my sudden exclaims. "Marceline, you have my word..." I said softly as I handed over the little wooden box back to Marceline. "Now all I need are some materials and-" "Materials?" She gently interrupted me as she swayed her head with curiosity. "It's nothing much actually. I already have the tools..." I said while pointing to the Omni-Tool which was still inside my jacket pocket. "Now all I need is a clasp or some kind of metal that resembles it. The size doesn't matter. I can just whittle it down to the right size. I just need to combine the broken pieces together with the piece of metal and it would be like nothing happened to it. I bet we could go and scavenge for the clasp somewhere in the camp... It shouldn't be that hard to find in this place, knowing all the junk that's lying around in the place." I droned on and on about the details of my idea to her, who simply sat there and listen with such intent.

When I was finished, she seemed thoughtful for a while. "That won't do... It would take too long to find it... Maybe you could just use another brooch instead." She finally suggested. "Well, it would certainly make everything easier. Do you know of another one?" "Yes, I do! Right outside the camp!" She smiled excitedly at my obviously shocked expression. "Outside the camp? What are you talking about?" I said, sounding slightly nervous... "I know where there's an untouched boutique that sells all kinds of jewellery and junk!" She explained to me, still very excited. "But... But that's impossible... We can't just leave the camp and go past the barricades like it was nothing... Do you think the soldiers would make a parade for us or something?" I exclaimed, breathlessly worried about where this will be heading... A part of me is telling me that sleeping for the night is now out of the question... An excited grin crossed Marceline's face revealing her white pointy teeth to me yet again. "We don't have to, Louis... I know another way!"

I was standing outside the overturned van waiting for Marceline to get ready. Thankfully, the drizzling rain was all but gone, for a while at least... There was still some thick-looking clouds gathering all over the night sky above us. I remembered how she hurriedly pushed me outside of the van and told me to wait outside for a while. I guess that she was getting ready by putting on her shawl and cloak again. Whatever it is, it sure is taking her quite a long time though. I'm not so sure whether we should even be doing this... It's just screaming all kinds of craziness and stupidity... What if get caught by a random soldier? What will happen to us outside those fenced walls? If the people inside here aren't exactly playing nice, I shudder to think what the people outside will do to us. I got a really bad feeling about all of this craziness but she seemed so excited... It's the only thing we could do to fix the brooch without wasting godly amounts of time... And I can't just let her down after what happened to her mother... I guess I really have to do this then...

The tattered cloth quickly slid opened and there she was, wearing the dirty cloak and the patched shawl from before, covering her purple pinafore entirely. She was carrying some kind of brown satchel slung over her right shoulder. The bloated satchel had all kinds of little holes at the sides and seemed so ancient... "Are you really bringing all that?" I asked her in disbelief as I pointed towards the bloated satchel. "Well, I'm not going anywhere without a fresh batch of apples." She proudly exclaimed as she tightened her grip around the satchel. "And I'm also bringing the box with my Mom's brooch." She said as she patted the satchel confidently. So she wants me to fix it as soon as I could... Okay then, I guess I have no qualms with that. "Okay... Anyway, are you bringing anything else? What about the van? Do you want me to carry it for you?" I said sarcastically as I smiled at her. "Let's just get going already..." She pouted at me as she clutched onto the satchel tightly. "As you wish, my Queen!" I jokingly bowed down to her, gesturing my arms for her to lead the way. I didn't know how or when but I guess we both naturally got used to each other's presence...

Marceline carefully jumped down onto the ground from the edge of the van and immediately head towards the corner of the camp. "So... Should we really be doing this, Marceline? I don't know why but I just got a really bad feeling about all of this..." I changed my tone to a much more serious one as I warned her about all the possibilities that could happen if we leave the safety of the camp. She simply chuckled at me before she mockingly said with a smirk, "Come on, Louis! Where's your sense of Adventure? Don't be such a weenie right now..." She then gestured me closer as she went closer and closer to the hidden corner of the camp. I'm not exactly sure on what she's actually trying to do but I just followed her intently nonetheless. As we arrived at the empty corner of the camp's area, I saw Marceline was quickly approaching a nearby patch of tall grass. "Over here!" She called out to me as she knelt down besides the tall grass. I unknowingly walked closer to her and immediately saw that she was kneeling down beside some kind of worn out wooden palette.

"What is it?" I asked out of curiosity. Marceline answered by kicking the wooden palette out of the way like it was nothing and revealing a partially open manhole. "My secret entrance!" She exclaimed excitedly. I promptly knelt down beside Marceline and inspected the manhole and what lies under it. It seemed like it leads to the... Sewers... "The sewers? Really? We're going down there?" I asked hesitatingly in disbelief. "Come on... It's really not that bad." She reassured me as she easily slid the rusted manhole fully open. The horrifying stench from the sewers immediately flooded my nostrils and I'm not even down there yet. "Uh, yeah... Not bad at all..." I peered inside the darkness of the Sewers, unsure if I'm really about to do this... "Take a deep breath of air and just jump down, okay? It's actually not that deep down there..." Marceline instructed me before she immediately leapt inside and completely disappeared from my sight. Surprised, I immediately peered into the unending darkness below me and I could see... nothing at all. Man, it's freaking dark in there! "Marceline! Are you okay?" I called out to her, my voice echoed throughout the thick darkness. "Just jump down, you weenie!" She shouted back to me. Well, it looks like I really have no choice... But I made a promise to Marceline. I gave her my word and I intent to keep it... I quickly stood back up onto my own two feet, standing at the edge of the manhole and overseeing the darkness below me. I took a pretty long and deep breath before I immediately regretted for doing so. Oh God, that stench! It felt like it burned my nose off. But I still kept telling myself... This is for Marceline, Louis... I bravely leapt inside the manhole and into the unending darkness below...

"OW! ARGH! GOD! Fuuuuuu..." I crashed onto the stone ground with an unceremoniously large thud. All of my bravery quickly dissipated away as my body was firmly planted on the ground. And I almost said a nasty word back there too... Not in front of a little girl, Louis, or Hannah will have my hide... The sound of Marceline immediately bursting out laughing sure did not make it seemed any better or heroic at all. "I can't believe you actually fell from that drop!" She snorted out loud. I looked up from the ground and saw Marceline standing under the moon light which was glistening from the manhole. "I'm... not exactly the most able person... Plus, the ground was very wet... Very wet... from all of the rain..." I hastily explained myself as I quickly scrambled back onto my own two feet. "Yeah, right..." She said, sounding quite pleased with herself as she rolled her eyes. "Could we hurry it up a bit? I thought we were in the middle of leaving the camp and putting ourselves in great danger?" I sarcastically exclaimed as I surveyed the area around me. The only thing I could say about the sewers is that it's incredibly dark to the point I could not see a thing. And that's not saying anything about the ridiculous smell... I can barely see Marceline clearly and that's only because of the moonlight... The sound of rushing water nearby and the unbearable stench quickly reminded me that this is a very bad and 'stinky' idea. Ha! I suck at puns!

"Okay, it's right over here..." I heard Marceline's voice echoed in the distance even though she was still standing next to me, pointing towards the thick darkness before me. I simply swallowed my throat and mustered up all of my courage before I took a step into the darkness. But I felt something immediately pulling me back so I quickly turned around to see Marceline holding onto my jacket. She gestured me to stop for a while before she briefly climbed up the metal ladder leading to the manhole until she half emerged back to the surface. She pulled the rusted metal lid closer to her and shut off the manhole entirely. Now that the moonlight was cut off, I can barely see anything. Not even my own hands which is right in front of my face! I could only see the vague outlines of stuff around me and that's not exactly helping much... The sudden sound of Marceline gracefully landing onto the ground somewhere near me almost made me jump out of shock. "Marceline? Is that you?" I stuttered with shock.

"Who else could it be?" She said sarcastically. "Okay, I don't want to alarm you, Marceline... But I think the smell just made me blind! Either that or it's so dark that I can't see anything down here. I think it's the first one..." I jokingly exclaimed as I try to make sense of the darkness. "Do you even know where we're going?" I asked out loud, my voice echoed throughout the sewers. "Of course I do! This isn't the first time I left the camp." She exclaimed proudly. "And no one else in the camp knows of this?" I inquired as I was trying my best to look at Marceline in the thick darkness. "Yeppity Yep Yep! It will be our own little secret together..." She said cheerfully. I smiled at her but I don't think she could even see me smiling or could she? After all I seen of what Marceline is capable of, she could fly for all I know and I think I wouldn't be surprised...

I suddenly felt something cold grasping at my hand. I was incredibly shocked at first because I thought it was something disgusting that just crept up behind me and ambushed me... But then I eventually realized that... It... It was Marceline's hand... "Is... Is that you, Marceline?" I said nervously. "Just hold onto my hand, okay? I'll lead the way..." She said in a hushed tone. For some reason, she sounded genuinely happy like she was experiencing something joyful... I don't see anything particularly to be joyful about considering we're at the bottom of the sewers. She suddenly started to pull me towards a direction as she continued to yell happily and excitedly, "Let's go! Let's go!" I stifled a soft chuckle as I obediently followed her lead through the darkness of the sewers. "Okay, Marceline... It'll be our own little secret..."

"Are we there yet?" My disheartened voice echoed throughout the sewer tunnels. "That's the third time you asked me! I told you we'll be there in maybe five more minutes!" Marceline's annoyed voice snapped back at me. "That would be all fine and dandy to me if you haven't said the exact same thing ten minutes ago..." I groaned loudly at her. "Be quiet and just hold on!" Marceline exclaimed breathlessly. I don't even know where we are or where we were going and I can barely see anything in the darkness. It felt like we're just going around in circles with all the turns we just made... I'm starting to even wonder whether or not if we're still under the city. For all we know, we could climb up right now and somehow found ourselves in Narnia! Dang... It's really stuffy under here and I think I may have just lost my sense of smell... Marceline suddenly halted in her path, much to my surprise as my body almost slammed into hers. For some reason, we continued to stand there for who knows how long. Please don't tell me...

"Okay, are we lost?" I finally asked her, hoping to God that the answer is a 'No'. "No... I think... I think we're finally here!" She exclaimed happily. Well, thank you God... The sound of Marceline climbing a metal ladder suddenly flooded throughout the sewer tunnels as I stood still on the same spot. It wasn't long before a sudden stream of moonlight entered into the tunnels as Marceline carefully slid open a manhole which was apparently above us both all the time. "Up here!" She called out to me as she climbed out into the surface. I quickly took a deep breath as I clutched onto the cold metal bars of the ladder before I finally climbed up as fast as I could. When I reached the top, I peered outside the manhole and saw that we were in some kind of deserted alley between two large buildings. Apparently we were back in the outer suburban part of the city again...

I saw Marceline was hiding behind a large metal dumpster at the end of the alleyway as she peered outside into the streets. She quickly looked back to me in the manhole and gestured me to get over to her. I nodded at her before I hastily climbed out of the manhole and promptly slid the nearby metal lid to close the manhole behind me. I then stumbled my way as I rushed over to Marceline's side, half crouched through the entire way. I suck at all this sneaky stuff... I'm a scientist, not a bloody ninja or something! "It seems that the streets are empty..." She silently whispered to me. Well, it's a good thing there was no patrols then... Military people likes patrolling everything, am I right? "So where's this boutique you were talking about?" I muttered as my eyes surveyed the dozens of seemingly abandoned buildings throughout the streets. She didn't say anything to me... She just grabbed onto my hand and quickly pulled me into the streets as we immediately head towards a random direction. "A simple 'Yes, I know the way' should had suffi-" Marceline quickly shushed me before I could finish as we quicken our pace. Okay then... Be quiet, Louis... I don't want to hear another word from you! Alrighty then, Brain!

Anyway, I began to notice that pretty much all the streetlights lining across the streets were shut off tonight and there was not a single soul to be seen anywhere on the road or the buildings as far as the eye can see... It was kind of creepy actually as the whole town area seemed like it was deserted and haunted. And with the slightly dense fog creeping down from the gathering of clouds above us, it made me remember about that horror game that Hannah used to play back in the day... We quickly passed by what seems to be dozens of boarded up shops and dilapidated buildings. I wondered which one of these buildings she is leading me to, because it feels like we've been searching it for a long time already... We even passed the tunnel entryway which leads to the subway system of the town. I was about to ask if we were lost... again... and if we were close to this legendary untouched boutique that she was talking about. But before I could, we suddenly halted our tracks right in front of an overturned wreckage of a car. I was awestruck at the sight of the destroyed car which was jammed and crashed right into the side of a dusty building. "What... What is this?" I stifled the words out of my mouth as I gently let her go and stepped forward, placing my hand onto the wreckage of the car standing before me. I felt the vehicle was also heavily rusted and it seemed like it has been crashed here for quite a significant amount of time... "It's the boutique... The one I told you about..." She said in a serious tone as she gently hold the satchel close to her chest. "...What? Are... Are you sure?" I exclaimed in disbelief as my voice slowly grew weaker. She hesitantly nodded at me before she finally whispered, "The boutique is behind the wreckage... That's why nobody could get inside..." Oh, freaking wonderful... One problem after another... It seems like that's happening a lot lately...

"What about the windows?" I suggested as I quickly circled around the building and went to check the sides of the small building. "Nope... All of them were barred and would not budge... no matter how hard I tried..." I heard her soft voice explaining it to me as I strolled through the alleyway at the side of the shop's building. She was right... All of the windows were closed by this thick metal panel and I couldn't even get a grip on them, let alone force it to open... "Can't we just somehow move the wreckage a little bit and I don't know... squeeze through?" Now I'm just spitting nonsense as I went deeper and deeper into the alleyway and inspecting the entire building. There's got to be a way... There's got to be... "The car crashed right into one of those big metal poles of the building... The one that keeps it standing... If we moved it too much, the entire building could come crashing down..." Wow... It makes every choice we have seems so bloody hopeless... "But you're sure the shop is untouched?"

"Yeah... It's not like the looters could just... I don't know, magically teleport inside it." She remarked sarcastically. So we know this place probably got what we need... Then there's no turning back... We already gone too far for that... Hmm... But how the heck do we get in there? Maybe... No, that won't work... That's just stupid... Maybe if I could- A rain drop suddenly came from somewhere up above and landed squarely onto my forehead, completely disturbing my thoughts. I quickly wiped my forehead and saw the wet smear of the raindrop at the palm of my hand. Looks like it's starting to rain again... I- Wait- Wait a minute... I slowly looked up from where I was standing and saw the emergency ladder for the building hanging above me. My eyes immediately lit up with an idea as I quickly called out for Marceline, who was still waiting for me at the crashed entrance of the shop, "Marceline! What about the roof?"

"There's nothing up there but the emergency door... Don't bother, I already tried to open it and it wouldn't budge at all or even break open." She yelled back to me from the entrance. Hmm... "That's where I come in..." I muttered under my breath as I gleaned over the fire escape... The ladder is simply too high for me even if I somehow develop an ability to double jump right this instant... But I need to open the clasp and release the ladder for Marceline... I noticed a metal dumpster next to me and my eyes immediately lit up yet again as I now know what to do. "I got an idea!" I shouted as I immediately pressed the dumpster with all the strength of my entire body... which wasn't that much in all actuality... "Really? What is it?" I heard Marceline's voice quickly getting closer and closer behind me. "Um... What are you doing?" I turned around to see her staring at me with a confused expression; An exasperated look on my face to counter hers. "No reason at all, I just suddenly felt like ramming my body against the trash... But seriously, would you kindly help me push this dumpster, Marceline?" I sarcastically exclaimed before I immediately started to press my body against the metal dumpster with all the strength I could muster yet again. Marceline simply shrugged off my strange behavior and quickly rushed towards my side intently.

Together, we slowly but surely pushed the heap of metal closer to the fire escape ladder. Ugh... First, it was the exotic smells of the sewers and then, it's the interesting smells from the dumpster... It seems like my nose is getting quite a treat for tonight... Almost there... There, got it! As soon as the dumpster was finally in place, I quickly scrambled my way onto it. Okay, Louis... Take a deep breath... Now give it everything you got! I readied myself on the metal dumpster and paced myself in place for a few seconds before I finally did a small running start from the top of the dumpster and quickly leapt forward, reaching for the fire escape ladder with all my might. I got it! I actually got it! Thank God! But with the sting of pain firmly at both palms of my hands, I was only dangling helplessly at the bottom bar of the ladder. I struggled to climb up the ladder as hard as I could but in the end, I wasn't making any progress at all and eventually, I simply lost all of my strength and dropped back down head-first onto the ground below me. Damn it! I pounded the ground with my fists out of my frustration and anger as the pain of falling down still coursing through my entire body. That certainly didn't go as planned...

Now I have to try again- What was that? The sound of someone jumping from the top of the dumpster and quickly climbing up to the top of the ladder suddenly erupted from behind me. It went by so fast, it was like a brief flash... Confused and surprised, I quickly turned around and saw the ladder already landing on the ground right in front of my feet with a metallic thud. Mystified, I looked up and saw Marceline was already at the top of the ladder and smirking proudly at me. "Is that what you wanted to do, Louis?" She jokingly prodded at me. "Well... I... uh... I loosen it for you... So you're welcome for that, by the way." I smiled nervously as I slowly stood back up and proceeded to climb up the tall ladder. "Yeah, right... Sure you did..." She chuckled at me as I struggled to climb the ladder. Oh God, I'm suddenly remembering all the bad memories from high school and PE... When I finally reached the top of the ladder, the first thing I saw was Marceline smiling sweetly at me as she outstretched her hand towards me and promptly helped me up. "Okay... Let's get to the top, shall we?" I said exasperatingly as I quickly dusted myself and slowly tried to regain my breath. "Uh... You... should lead the way, Marceline..." I muttered as I was still panting for air. "What's the matter? Are you already tired? Do we need to rest?" She inquired worryingly. "Nah, I'm good... I'm good... Let's just go..." I reassured her as I forced my 'best' grin to her. She simply nodded at me before we both proceeded to climb the many metal staircases of the fire escape. Oh God, PE memories again...

It wasn't long before we finally reached to the rooftop of the building. Marceline excitedly jumped onto the rooftop and happily shouted, "We're here!" I was forcing myself to climb up the metal staircases and was already crawling on the floor by the time I arrived at the rooftop. This is actually a small building and yet it felt like forever when I climbed the fire escape. Maybe Hannah was right when she told me to exercise more... It made me realize that I really need to get into shape... "Come on, Louis! Get up! Get up! We're almost to the end!" Marceline shouted excitedly me as she encouraged me. And by 'encourage', I meant that she was actually repeatedly prodding my entire face with her pointy fingers. "Okay! I'm up... I'm up..." I slowly struggled to get back up, just to stop her from continuing to poke my face, and proceeded to shamble the rest of the way towards the rooftop emergency escape door, much to Marceline's joyful cheer. I extended my hand and turned the knob of the door... Just as I expected, it was firmly locked shut...

"See... I told you it was locked..." She muttered, her previous joyful cheers was replaced by a depressed voice. But I was already busy surveying the entire rooftop around me. And when I noticed the nearby air vent system, a wry smile immediately crossed my face... Finally, something goes according to plan for once... "What are you doing?" She seemed perplexed when she saw me rushing towards the vents. I picked the most widest out of all of the vents before I knelt down besides it and quickly took out the Omni-Tool from my pocket. With the press of a button, a red holographic screwdriver emerged from the black metallic rod. I immediately set off to work on unscrewing the vent as Marceline just watched on from behind with a tint of curiosity in her crimson eyes. As I quickly unscrewed the final screw of the vent, I opened it easily revealing the entire ventilation duct inside it. "Marceline!" I excitedly called out to her as I gestured her closer. "What are you even doing?" She seemed completely befuddled. "Making an entrance..." I grinned cheerfully at her.

She proceeded to stare inside the duct for a while with a puzzled expression on her face, before her eyes suddenly lit up as she finally catches on. "I get it! All I have to do is go through the ventilation ducts and-" "Well, actually I think that I should go inside the vent and open the door..." I quickly finished it for her. "It's perfect!" She exclaimed happily as she peered inside the entrance of the duct, seemingly ignoring at what I just said. "Hey, Marceline... Didn't you hear me? I told you that I-" "Hey, Louis... Hold this for me..." Marceline cried out as she dropped the worn out satchel that she has been carrying all this time right on the floor in front of me. My eyes immediately lit up with horror as I knew what she was about to do... "Marceline... Wait! Wait! What are-" "Don't wait up, you weenie!" She exclaimed excitedly before she immediately leapt inside the ventilation duct and quickly disappeared from my sight before I could even do anything.

"Marceline! Marceline! Are you freaking crazy?" My voice echoed throughout the ventilation system... but there was no response from her... She was already long gone... I quickly squeezed my body through the ventilation shaft in an effort to catch up with her but much to my shock and surprise, I discovered that my waist couldn't fit through the vent... Well, this is certainly embarrassing... I did not expect this particular outcome... I managed to squeeze myself out of the vent which is way more harder and embarrassing than it actually sounds. I softly sighed, feeling defeated as I laid there on the ground. I guess I just have to rely on Marceline and hope that she'll be safe... She's a very resourceful little girl. I mean... She survived by herself all this time and she even managed to take out three burly guys. So maybe, I guess I have nothing to be worried about after all...

From the ground, I couldn't help but gaze into the night sky hanging high above me and the entirely dark city in the distance. The stars were glistening brightly amongst the veiled night as they pierced through the thick clouds hanging above me. It was beautiful... I just hope we can find what we're looking for, or else we did all of this crazy nonsense for nothing. For once, I hope everything will be fine in the end... Looking at the stars, I couldn't help but wonder if Hannah would be okay... But I bet she's already fine though, for all I know. She's a very tough woman, that's for sure... A very tough woman... I then realized Marceline's satchel was lying on the ground right next to my head.

With nothing else to do while I'm waiting for Marceline, I reached for her satchel and carefully opened it up, scrounging through the many apples inside it. I could feel the little wooden box inside it amongst the probably dozens of apples. The very reason we're doing all of this... When I randomly picked an apple, I slowly pulled it out from the satchel and promptly took a bite out of it without even looking at it. Turns out that was a bad thing... Much to my shock, I quickly sat back up and spit the disgusting remains of the apple out of my mouth. That was... disgusting! I looked at the apple on my hand to see what the hell was wrong with it only to be surprised to see a squishy and grey apple instead of a fresh and red one that I had expected. Ew! Disgusting! One of the apples was already rotten! I guess Marceline didn't really notice it... Well, it's a good thing that I took the bullet for Marceline rather than her, I suppose...

I angrily tossed the rotten apple off the rooftop out of sheer disgust before I slowly stood back up onto my own two feet, picking up Marceline's satchel along the way. I wonder how Marceline is doing? I hope she's alright... As if on cue, the sound of the emergency door budging from the other side quickly retrieved me from the inside of my own thoughts and cleansed me of my worries. She did it... I slowly approached the door as it quickly swung open with Marceline standing right behind it as she grinned happily at me. "Ta-da!" She waved her arms like she just did something magical. But it was not magical... It could have been dangerous... I quickly knelt down in front of her with a stern look on my face. "Listen, Marceline... Don't you ever do something like that ever again, you understand? I need you to always stay close to me and never do something as dangerous as that again. Do you understand me?" "Okay..." She softly replied, her smile slowly disappearing. "That's a good girl..." I gently smiled at her as I handed Marceline her worn out satchel. "Alright then, let's go..." I exclaimed as I slowly stood back up and outstretched my hand towards her. She smiled softly at me before her cold hand finally grabbed onto mine as we both immediately began to descend deeper and deeper into the darkness of the building, without a moment too soon...

"What are you going to do after all of this is over?" I heard her voice echoing beside me as we carefully descend the staircase of the emergency escape. "What do you mean by that?" I softly replied to her as our deafening footsteps flooded throughout the empty staircase. "When you finished fixing my Mother's brooch, are you going to stay?" "No... I have to go find my wife..." I could feel her cold grip tightening around my hand... "...Can I come with you?" Her sudden question immediately shocked me as my heart almost skipped a beat. I didn't know what to say to her... "Marceline... I... uh... I... We're here..." I sighed slightly in relief as we finally reached the end of the emergency staircase. There was a fancy wooden door waiting for us at the end of it. I slowly pressed my hand against it and gently pushed it forward as carefully as I could.

Much to my pleasant surprise, the door was not locked as it slowly swung open with ease. A dark and dusty room filled with all kinds of dresses and outfits laid before us. We kept close to each other as we slowly entered what seemed to be the dresses section of the boutique. They were plastic mannequins wearing fancy dresses littering all over the place as they were creepily staring directly at us. Because of the looters inability to enter the building, the rest of the shop seemed so untouched and practically normal... except the great quantities of dust everywhere. Man, it is so disgusting here! If Hannah was here, she would already start cleaning the place even if it was at the most inappropriate time. She has a fear for dirty things... A little phobia, in a way... I don't really mind it though considering that too much dirt and dust could harm my weak lungs. But right now, I'm just afraid that my asthma would suddenly be acting up again from all of this dust.

"Where's all the jewelry?" Marceline's voice suddenly chimed into the deafening silence as she slowly skipped to the center of the room. I was wondering about that myself as I surveyed across the entire room... Apart from the creepy mannequins and the fancy dresses, there was not a single jewelry to be found. Wait a minute... There's something else... What's over there? It's hard to see it under this thick darkness but I think it's... It's a staircase! And it seems like it leads downstairs. "Maybe it's not here... Did we do all of this for nothing?" She glanced at me inquisitively with a tint of worry written all around her crimson eyes. "Or maybe it's just downstairs..." I softly stated as I pointed towards the direction of the staircase. She turned to where I was pointing and saw the staircase, immediately understanding what I meant as she excitedly rushed towards it. "Don't go ahead of me! Stay close!" I warned her but she clearly didn't listen to me as she was already downstairs. I simply sighed as I followed suit and hurriedly went down the staircase as fast as I could.

"We found it!" I heard her excited yells from below as I quickly went down the stairs. When I finally caught up with her, I was amazed to see rows and rows of glass display cases filled with all manners of jewelry. I also noticed the wreckage of the car from before was firmly lodged at the entrance of the whole building, crashed directly into a metal support beam at the corner of the shop. But thankfully, it appears it did not damage any of the jewelry display cases. Marceline already set off to work on checking each of the display cases, looking for a matching brooch as I descended the stairs. I slowly shuffled my feet from glass case to another as I helped Marceline with checking each of the jewelry. There's got to be a matching one... All of it is either too small or too big... Most of them aren't even brooches... I eventually stumbled upon a glass case with a fancy necklace made out of sterling silver and freshwater pearls. To my numbing surprise, it immediately struck me that the necklace almost somewhat resembled the very same necklace that I wanted to give Hannah as an anniversary gift... The only difference was the star engraved pendant... Stars... Just like her bright hazel eyes...

"Over here! Louis! I found it!" Marceline suddenly called out to me while pointing towards a certain display case next to her. I quickly shook my head and immediately rushed to her side to inspect the glass case. And there I saw it in the display case amongst dozens of other finely crafted brooches, it was a golden brooch of a butterfly with gemstones engraved on its wings. "It's perfect!" She exclaimed happily. "Now we just need to grab it..." She added as she gently pressed her hands against the glass case in anticipation, exasperatingly waiting with bated breath. "Well, that's simple..." I stated as I pressed my hand on top of the glass case. In an instant, a blue-colored virtual interface materialized onto the glass display, showing all the prices and qualities of each piece of jewelry. The glow of the interface thankfully brightening the entire dark room ever so slightly. Now where is that thing?

My eyes quickly scanned the whole list for the golden butterfly and... Wow! The golden butterfly is bloody expensive... No wonder someone crashed a car into here... I would do it too going by these prices... It's freaking burglary! Oh well... I immediately pressed buy and a small column was immediately raised from under the butterfly brooch, lifting it up through the surface of the glass case which slightly opened to make way for the column. "...You bought it?" Marceline gasped out of shock. "Hey, it's not like money is the most important thing right now." I said jokingly as I grabbed the butterfly brooch from the column which immediately lowered itself back into the glass case. "Why would you do something like that?" She seemed so surprised of what I just did... I slowly knelt in front of Marceline and presented the prize of all our hard work to her. "Consider it as a little gift from me to a beautiful girl like you..." Her cheeks blushed a slight pinkish red as she tighten her grip around her satchel. "Now then..." I grinned excitedly at her. "Let's get your mother's brooch fixed..."

Marceline rummaged through her satchel as I placed the butterfly brooch on top of the glass case. Thankfully, the glow of the virtual interface gave me some kind of light source for the upcoming operation. She quickly took out the wooden box from her satchel and promptly placed it beside the butterfly brooch. She gently opened the box and carefully took out the pieces of her mother's brooch. "What are you going to do?" She inquired as she gently handed over the pieces to me. "It's simple... I'm going to neatly weld it together with my Omni-Tool and replace the clasp with the very same one from the butterfly brooch. It'll be like it was never broken at all... Good as new!" I explained to her as I quickly took out the Omni-Tool from my pocket. With the press of a button, a small blue holographic welder emerged from the black metallic rod. For a second there, I felt like I was some kind of wizard holding a wand... Why do I keep imagining all of this strange things? "Good luck..." She whispered, slightly worried... "There's nothing to worry about, my dear! You'll see it again, brand new!" I exclaimed confidently as I tried to reassure her before immediately setting off to work and carefully welding the two pieces together, making sure if there was no oddities or deformities on it. I wanted to make it perfect... I have to make it perfect... For her...

I didn't know how much time had passed but I was too busy concentrating into my work that I barely notice. Sometimes, I could hear Marceline inspecting the other pieces of jewelry in the room and in rare moments, I could hear Marceline humming to herself. I could also hear her impatiently shuffling around in the darkness behind me for quite a while before she eventually climbed upstairs to check out the dresses, or I think so... I'm not so sure... After I finally finished welding the two pieces together, it fully resembles the shape of a bat. I gently turned it around and saw the broken clasp hanging off it like a broken limb. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves first before I finally set off to work into removing the broken clasp from the bat brooch and the clasp from the butterfly brooch. Now it's time to replace the clasp of the bat brooch with the similar clasp of the butterfly brooch... At least this would be much easier than welding... It wasn't that long before I quickly replaced the broken clasp of the golden bat... I sighed in complete satisfaction as my eyes quickly gleaned over my completed work... I held it up to the limited light in the darkness as I inspected it further. It looks good as new... A golden bat with gemstones on the edges of its wings... It's perfect...

"Marceline!" I called out to her. "What?" Her voice suddenly came from behind me, much to my apparent shock. I turned around to see her standing right behind me, "I... I thought you were upstairs..." "I wanted to see all of the dresses upstairs." She explained to me as she nervously fiddled around with her fingers. Okay... "Look, Marceline..." I knelt down and proudly presented the golden bat to her. She was immediately stunned and awestruck just from seeing it. Her crimson eyes suddenly lit up in disbelief and in shock. I gently handed it to her petrified hands and smiled as she held it up close to her face. For a while, she kept gazing into the brooch with a sweet and longing smile across her face. A single tear... I noticed a single tear crossing her face as she closed her eyes, probably reflecting about the past... About her Mother, I bet... It was quite a while before she finally look back to me and smiled, "Thank you, Louis... For everything..."

"It's not a problem at all." I whispered, slightly tired but mostly happy. She slowly approached the wooden box which was still resting on the display case and gently grabbed it. She gently opened the box and to my pleasant surprise, slid open some kind of panel under the lid of the box, revealing an entire part of the box I haven't even seen before. "Is... Is that a secret panel?" I was quite shocked just to see it. Really shocked indeed... "Yeah... I hid it from you and from... everyone else..." She said softly, a slight smile on her face. "But now I know I can trust you, Louis..." She sweetly grinned as she held the box upwards to me like it was some kind of trophy. I noticed that there was a large hole under the secret lid which seemed like it formed the shape of a... bat... "I can finally complete her box..." She whispered softly as she neatly placed the golden bat brooch into the odd shape under the lid of the box. We both waited with bated breath, unsure of what to even expect now... And then to our surprise and amazement, the sound of turning gears suddenly came from the box, echoing across the dark and silent room. "What's... What's going on?" She said as she carefully placed the wooden box back onto the display case. "I don't know, Marceline. I don't know..." I have absolutely no idea on what's going on... But the gears coming from the box finally stopped turning and then... Oh my...

A musical tune started playing out of nowhere... My eyes completely light up with disbelief... "It's... It's a musical box..." I stuttered the words out of my mouth, completely awestruck, as the tune continued to play without any signs of stopping. "It's... It's my mother's lullaby..." Marceline whispered softly to me. Wow... I... I don't know what to say... To my pleasant surprise, Marceline then started to hum alongside the musical tune as she slowly approached closer to the box. She slowly placed her hand on the box and closed her eyes as she gently laid her forehead onto the wooden musical box. I just stood there behind her, gazing at her with sympathy. It made me wonder how my Mother is doing right now... I hoped to God that she was safe from all of this... But who am I kidding? She stayed behind... She- She wanted to... die... My heart immediately fell deathly numb as I finally faced the realization... It's time I told myself the truth anyway... She's gone, Louis...

I didn't notice a single tear suddenly going down my cheek; it came out of nowhere... God, I'm ridiculous... I quickly wiped the tear away from my face as I slowly turned around and promptly walked away, thinking that Marceline needed some time alone anyway. "Hey, Louis!" I heard her voice suddenly calling me out from behind. Hesitantly, I slowly turned towards her and saw that she was standing right in front of me, happily grinning. "Let's dance!" She exclaimed excitedly. I raised my eyebrows in complete disbelief, "...What?" She suddenly grabbed onto my hands and pulled me closer to her. "I just wanted to dance..." She said softly as she started to pace around, trying her best to follow the melodious tune of the box. I was very unsure of Marceline at first, but... I simply nodded at her and smiled.

I tried my very best to follow her enchanting steps as we continued to circle around the dark room, repeatedly following the wonderful tune of the musical box. After a while, it was then that I realized... Marceline was trying to dance the beautiful ballet, just like her mother used to teach her... She was laughing merrily at our terrible dancing the entire time, as I stifled a soft chuckle at our pretty strange behavior. You don't see this everyday in the midst of a War... I didn't realized she was smiling sweetly at me as we continued to dance our woeful and pain inducing dance. I was too busy trying to follow her steps and not failing miserably. Dancing isn't exactly my strong point... And it seemed like it's not Marceline's too, judging by her stumbling movement. For a short blissful while, time felt so distant... It felt like the War was nothing but a forgotten memory... I didn't know how long we were dancing around the room... But it felt so... peaceful... It was getting quite clear to us both that we can't dance to even save our lives... but I could still tell behind her crimson eyes that she was... happy... And that made me happy, even for a brief moment...

A thunderous sound in the distance immediately stopped us on our tracks. Marceline's sweet smile quickly disappeared as another thunderous sound followed suit. I glanced at the unsure look on her face and gently let her go before I quickly approached the wreckage of the car. I peered behind the small cracks of the entrance and see... I saw dozens of people running around in the streets, frantically panicking and screaming their lungs out. "What the hell is going on?" I exclaimed urgently, slightly terrified. Another thunderous sound immediately silenced all of their deafening screams. It immediately struck me... No... Oh God... Please, no... It can't be... It can't be! I turned back to see Marceline already packing her mother's wooden musical box into her satchel, silencing the once beautiful and peaceful tune, before she curiously glanced at me. My heart sank deep as an uneasy feeling flooded through it...

"Marceline, stay here! Don't move!" I ordered her as I quickly rushed to climb up the staircase into the second floor. "Louis! Wait!" I heard her calling out behind me but I couldn't stopped myself as I make my way to the roof of the building. When I finally reached the rooftop of the building, I was devastated to see... to see... Oh God, the entire city was engulfed in searing flames... Oh my God... The deafening sound of jets quickly passed from somewhere above me in a brief flash as I saw what seems to be... airplanes as black as the night itself. They were heading directly towards the burning city and they were... Oh my God... I shielded my eyes as a sudden blinding flash of light emerged from the city and a deafening boom following suit. I clutched onto my head as I helplessly fell onto my knees, my heart filled with dread at the sight of the crumbling buildings.

No... No... Oh, fuck... Oh my God... The War... The fucking War... It's- It's finally happening... I could hardly manage to contain my breath as I started to panic nonsensically. No way... No fucking way... Hannah... Oh God... Oh God, why now? My hands were shaking uncontrollably as I desperately clutched onto my chest, struggling to even breath. The constant sounds of people desperately screaming and miserably shouting from below was immediately cut off with another thunderous sound from the city. I couldn't even bear to watch the blinding flash of light that followed suit... Oh God, why here? Why would they even come here? Of all the places in the entire goddamn country...

Why here? Why now? God... My body felt like it was paralyzed as I witnessed the burning city in the distance. "What... What is... What-" My eyes shockingly lit up as the sudden voice of Marceline behind me immediately snapped me out of my petrified trance. I quickly turned around to see her standing at the doorway, horrified at the sight of the burning city behind me as she clutched onto her satchel... I was completely stunned... "Marceline... I- I..." She was utterly speechless as she kept gazing directly into me, her crimson eyes filled with dread and fear as they slowly started to tear up. I didn't know what to say as every fiber of my being felt like they just gave up... Marceline was quivering helplessly before me... She was crying as tears slowly began to roll down her soft cheeks, tears filled with confusion and horror...

It was then her once pure innocence was lost... And it can never be regained... Could it?


	7. Innocence Lost

Before the Mushroom War

Innocence Lost

"Marceline? I... I told you to stay back! What... What are you doing here?"

I desperately questioned her as I struggled to get back standing, still fighting my aching body. I feel so weak, so drained... She just stood there at the doorway, covering both of her ears with her hands, seemingly frozen by what's going on around us. She was trying to block out the noise... The terrible noise... The haunting screams of desperation from the people below us and the sounds of bullets whizzing in the distance almost drowned out my voice. It's just too much to bear... I have no idea what I should do... but still... I... I have to do something!

I weakly shambled my way towards her and promptly fell down to my knees beside her, "I'm going to get you out of here!" I shouted urgently at her. She was unresponsive as her gaze was firmly locked onto the burning city in the distance... "Marceline, we can't stay here! We have to get out of here!" She was still unresponsive... Damn it! "Marceline! Wake up! WAKE UP!" I desperately grabbed onto her shoulders, snapping her out of her horrified trance. "Louis... I... What is..." She nervously whispered. "Listen to me, Marceline... Listen to me... We cannot stay here anymore! We have to get out of here!" I weakly muttered as I helplessly clutched onto her shoulders. The deafening sounds of the screaming civilians below us and the sounds of falling bombs and whizzing bullets were echoing throughout the previously silent night, haunting the little girl nervously standing before me.

"Marceline, I need you to stay calm... I need you to stay calm and always stay next to me, okay? We're going to get out of here!" With the tears still going down on her soft cheeks, she could do nothing but simply nod at me in agreement. "We have to get out of the roof! It's too dangerous!" I weakly exclaimed as I grabbed onto her cold hands and slowly lead her to the nearby fire escape. I could feel her tightening her grip around my hands which were still shaking uncontrollably at the horrible sight around us. We were both terrified out of our minds... I didn't know what to say or what to think anymore as a numbing sensation coursed throughout my entire body. All of the deafening and painful noise around us is just drowning out what's remaining of my thoughts. I simply swallowed my throat out of fear and walked towards the fire escape at the end of the roof, dozens of questions were buzzing around in my head. Why here? Why now? What about Hannah? Will we be able to... survive this?

When we arrived at the fire escape, I turned around to see Marceline, her eyes were tightly closed with fear, as she stood there holding onto my hand. I knelt down in front of her and softly whispered to her, "Marceline... We have to go down the stairs and find a way out of the streets, okay? It's too dangerous being out in the open..." She opened her tear-filled crimson eyes and stared hauntingly at me. "Is... Is... everyone... going to die?" She asked me, a cold sting in my heart. I didn't answer as I couldn't do anything but simply looked away from her... "Don't turn around, Marceline... Just look at me... and keep your eyes on me..." I instead instructed her, much to her apparent confusion. But she immediately understood me when we flinched as another sudden thunderous sound was heard from the crumbling city behind her. She then looked directly at me, her crimson eyes filled with emptiness and anguish; it was as if she had lost all hope and already gave up... "Everything's going to be okay, understand? We just have to get out of the open... Get out of here... Now hold my hand as tightly as you can and stay close to me, got it?" I ordered her to which she silently complied as we immediately began to descend the metal staircases of the fire escape. Hope's the last thing we need to lose right now... We just have to make it... We just have to make it out of this goddamn mess...

As I climbed down the ladder first to make sure if the coast was clear in the alleyway for Marceline, I realized it was getting harder and harder for me to breathe. I felt like I almost lost my grip from the metal bars of the ladder and lifelessly fall to the ground below me. I didn't know what came over me... The sounds of the deafening screams were a constant reminder of what was going on... And it was horrible... I can't get them out of my head... As I finally finished climbing down the ladder and arrived at the ground below me, I was holding onto my own sore hands. I glanced at them, they were still shaking uncontrollably with distraught. I couldn't stop it, no matter how hard I tried. It felt like these hands weren't mine anymore...

"...Louis?" Marceline's voice came from up above, causing me to immediately snapped out of my self-induced trance. I looked up to see that she was already arriving down the metal ladder, carrying her worn out satchel with her. "I... I told you to wait for me..." I weakly muttered as she hopped onto the ground in front of me. "You were taking too long..." She coldly answered. "We have to get out of the streets..." I told her, hiding my shaking hands from her. She was unresponsive... she was clutching onto her satchel as she kept gazing at the charred skies hanging above us, the thick clouds accompanied by the glow of the burning city. "Marceline!" She finally turned towards me, her eyes holding back the confused tears...

"Then... uh... We have to go back... to the sewers..." She softly muttered as she pointed towards the nearest manhole cover, right in the middle of the street amongst the panicking crowd of people. This is going to get difficult... "...Are you going to be alright?" I softly asked her as I gently placed my hands on her shoulders. "I'll... I'll be fine." She answered, without even looking back at me. "Marceline, please look at me..." I said softly. She slowly raised her head and looked at me, her haunting crimson eyes slightly touched my heart... "I need you to be brave, Marceline... I need you to hold onto my hand and whatever happens, do not let go of it... I need you to stay with me at all times, you understand? DO NOT get separated from me, okay?" She didn't answer... She simply nodded at me, before turning her gaze somewhere else... I gently grabbed onto her cold and shaking hand to which she immediately tightened her grip. I breathed slowly, trying to calm down my panicking nerves before I finally said to her, "Okay, let's get out of here..."

As we walked through the alleyway, the sudden sounds of distant footsteps could be heard. I immediately stood in front of Marceline as we slow down our pace, trying my best to hide her behind my back as the footsteps were quickly getting closer... After what happened at the camp, I knew that I cannot simply trust anyone... I knew desperation could make anyone do anything to survive... And somewhere inside me, I knew that I, myself, may have to resort to it too... I have to think about Marceline... As the footsteps were getting louder, I saw three men whom were wearing very thick clothing quickly ran through the alleyway, thankfully ignoring both of us. Their faces were full of fear and dread... An old woman and a young woman carrying a small child were closely following the three men as they eventually disappeared from our sight. They weren't a threat to anybody. They''re just trying to survive... Like both of us... "We have to hurry... We have to get to the sewers..." Marceline whispered from behind me. "Stay close to me... Don't let go of my hand..." I warned her yet again as we both hurriedly made our way to the manhole cover. The streets were everything but empty with everyone running around in their own directions. Some were boarding up the abandoned buildings and hunkering down, hoping to outlast the War themselves. Others were running towards the safety of the military outpost, hoping that the soldiers and Peacekeepers droids to keep them safe as they evacuate themselves. I could do nothing but wish them all the best of luck...

Marceline and I had to circle around the enveloping crowd just to avoid their desperate brutality... And it still wasn't enough... Bodies were forcefully being squished against us as everyone frantically pushed each other, trying to get an edge over the others as they escape from all of the chaos in the city. I had to gripped onto Marceline's hand behind me as tightly as possible just so I wouldn't lose her in the violent crowd. "Have you seen my son?!" A young blonde woman suddenly grabbed onto my jacket out of nowhere. I tried to walk past her but she only tightened her grip around my jacket. "Please, you have to help me find my son! Have you seen my son?" Her desperate voice was almost drowned out by the panicked screaming of the crowd. This is wasting our time... "I'm sorry! I haven't seen your son!" She wouldn't loosen her grip on me...

"Please, let me go!" Using my free hand, I was forced to push the young woman away from me without even uttering a single word to her. "Please, has somebody seen my son?" Her voice behind me was quickly silenced by another thunderous boom from the city... Goddamn it! Out of nowhere, a scrawny bearded man's body was suddenly thrown against me with great force, accidentally causing me to lose my grip on Marceline's hand. "Somebody help! Please somebody help me!" The man yelled loudly, his screams almost made me go deaf. None of the crowd stopped to even help him as he was being trampled by the crowd's frantic stampede.

It was then I realized that the man had only one leg and that his crutches was scattered on the ground in front of him. I couldn't bear seeing the poor man being trampled by the crowd... "Get away from him!" I yelled to the crowd as I immediately knelt down beside the man, grabbing onto his shoulders and helping him to stand back up. As the man clutched onto my shoulders for support, I picked up the pair of rusted crutches from the ground. "Listen to me! Stay out of the road! Just get the hell out of here!" I shouted at the man as I handed him the crutches. "Thank you... Thank you so much!" He yelled as he nodded at me in an understanding manner before he quickly limped away out of the streets and towards the subway system of the town. I hope he could make it...

Wait... Wait a second... I quickly surveyed the crowd surrounding me as my eyes suddenly lit up with horror... Marceline! Where's Marceline? "Marceline?!" I yelled as loudly as I could as my weary eyes frantically darted to and fro in the midst of the crowd, trying my best to spot the little girl. Where is she? Goddamn it, where is she? "Louis?" I heard her voice, muffled by the screams of the crowd, but I know it's her... I turned towards where I thought the voice came from only to see the little girl was standing on top of the manhole cover in the middle of the road. But... there... there was two figures standing in front of her, holding her hand and trying to pull her away. A man and a woman, I think... What the hell are they doing to her?

I quickly forced my way through the crowd, trying to make it towards her. "No, I'm not alone..." I could hear her soft voice in the distance. "Why are you alone here? There's no one coming for you..." I heard a woman's voice accompanying Marceline's voice, much to my surprise. Bloody crowd! I have to get to her! "No, he's coming back for me... He told me to wait here..." Marceline, just hold on for me... "He's not coming for you, my dear... You have to come with us! We can take you to safety..." This time, it was a man's raspy voice talking to Marceline. I could see them pulling Marceline away... I have to get to her! To hell with it! Now it was my turn to push everyone in the crowd away as I quicken my pace just to get to her. "Louis!" She cried out in relief at the sight of me "What are you two doing? Get the hell away from her!" I yelled angrily at the couple next to Marceline whom was greatly surprised to see me. "Don't you dare touch her!" I waved my fists threateningly at them both to which they immediately backed away. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! We thought she was alone!" The man exclaimed as they both immediately merged into the crowd and out of my sight.

"...Are you alright, Marceline?" I asked her, my voice filled with relief, as I gently grabbed onto her shoulders and embraced her. Her body was still shaking... "I... I'm... okay..." She softly whispered to me. Thank God... "We have to get out of here..." I told her to which she nodded at me in agreement. I mustered up all of my strength and quickly slide open the lid of the nearby manhole. "Get in there, Marceline... Hurry..." Without a single moment of hesitation, she immediately leapt inside the darkness below as I used the metal ladder instead to descend. Thankfully, everyone seemed to ignore us entirely as we used the manhole to escape. I could see some of them were going into the subway tunnels instead and some were starting to barricade themselves in the abandoned buildings- Huh? Wha- Wait a minute... Amidst the crowd, I thought I saw someone vaguely familiar... Is that... Is that... the teenager with the piercing blue eyes? He was fast approaching me through the crowd, his face was full of anguish and dread as he stared directly into me... "Louis! Come on!" Marceline called out to me from below in a soft and scared tone. I glanced back and saw the young lad was all but gone... What was that? It... It was nothing... I quickly shook my head and told myself that I was seeing things again... "Close the lid behind you!" Marceline quickly added as I was already halfway down the ladder. With the full view of the burning and crumbling city from the manhole, I simply shut my eyes and looked away as I slowly closed the lid. Another thunderous sound could be heard from the city as I sealed the metal lid of the manhole above me...

"Do... Do you think we're going to make it, Louis?"

"Do you... think that everyone will die?" Marceline's silent voice slightly echoed through the darkness as I reached the end of the ladder and arrived at the sewers. I didn't know what to say to her... I didn't know what to think anymore... I couldn't think of anything else but only Hannah... Oh God, I'm so bloody worried about her... The thought of not knowing anything about her condition is literally tearing me apart from the insides. My hands were still shaking uncontrollably as I stood there motionless... "I... uh... I... Everything... Everything will be fine, Marceline..." I tried my best to reassure her, but how could I when I can't even see her clearly in this thick darkness. "That's what he said too..."

"Wha... What did you say?" I couldn't hear her properly because of the deafening screams and the thunderous explosions up above us. Why can we still hear all of the chaos? When will it end? "Huh? Nothing... I didn't say anything..." She muttered silently, much to my confusion. Okay then... I simply shrugged it off. "So... what... What should we do now?" Marceline stuttered, trying to change the topic. I didn't reply immediately... In all honesty, I never thought about it further than that. I just wanted to get out of the open and somewhere hopefully safe. But... I still need to find Hannah... What if Henry's already at the checkpoint? He gave me his word, after all... But is it wishful thinking to hope that he will still come back? I just don't know what to do next... And what about Marceline? Obviously, she couldn't come with me even if Henry came back. It's just too dangerous now... I need to get her out of here...

But how? Unless the only option available is... the military checkpoint, maybe? "We're going back to the checkpoint..." I finally put out my idea to her. "What? Why? Isn't it dangerous to go back there?" She softly gasped out of shock. "Don't worry... If I had known those Peacekeepers droids, they would keep the place safe.. Trust me..." I reassured her as I smiled weakly at her. If she could see my smile... "Okay then... I trust you..." Marceline's whispered to me before I could suddenly felt her cold touch on my hand. "Stay close to me... And don't let go..." Marceline's soft voice slightly echoed throughout the blinding darkness as we head towards the military checkpoint through the sewers. I'm not sure if the soldiers and the Peacekeeper droids could hold their ground. They are a pretty sturdy bunch though, so maybe they could... Whatever the case maybe, I hope to God that I'm right... For Marceline's sake...

We were running in the darkness, quickly turning left and right along the tunnels of the sewers with the sounds of rushing water nearby accompanying the echoes of our footsteps. I can't hear the screaming from above anymore... Is it over? Or is it just that we're at an empty place? I don't know but I just hope we can get there before all of the trucks leave... Marceline was dragging me around the sewers with the strength and speed you would not expect from a little girl. I still have no idea how she could see so clearly in this blinding darkness... We continued to go through the unending darkness of the sewers for what felt like hours, but I guess it must've actually been just a few minutes... There was a haunting silence surrounding us as everything fell quiet... Wait... What was that sound?

Apart from the rushing water and our echoing footsteps, I thought I heard something entirely different... It sounded like it was... a loud whistling sound! No... "Look out!" My disheartened voice echoed throughout the sewers as I suddenly pulled Marceline backwards while she was still running. I immediately backed away from where we were standing. carrying Marceline along with me. "What...?" It was the only word she could utter before my fears were proven correct as enormous cracks were suddenly forming on the ceiling of the sewers. Before I could do anything, the very road from above quickly fell down on us as a combination of stone and concrete was caved into the sewers. Instinctively, I pulled Marceline away from the direction of all of the fallen debris, shielding her with my body as best as I could. I felt my feet slipping away as I accidentally fell backwards onto the ground, forcing me to let of Marceline's hand. "NO!" I heard her screaming in the distant darkness before the deafening sound of giant concrete rocks immediately came crashing down right before us...

I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was lying on the cold floors of the sewers, shielding my entire body from the falling debris for the entire time. It was immediately quiet again as the dust slowly began to settle around us. Thanks to the overwhelming presence of dirt, I was desperately coughing for air as I squinted my eyes trying to make out what was happening around me, slowly getting back onto my knees in the meanwhile. It was then that I saw the entire sewer tunnel we were in suddenly caved in right before us. If it wasn't for that deafeningly loud whistling sound to warn us of the impending explosion, I'm pretty sure that we were going to be buried by all of that junk... Those bombs must have weakened the entire city's structures. But... does that mean we're close to the city? And closer to the checkpoint?

"Hurry it up! Get these people loaded up into the trucks!" I heard a familiar voice shouting from somewhere up above me alongside the loud engine sounds of military trucks and the sounds of deafening gunfire. Judging from that burly voice, I could tell that it was the Major from before. I quickly looked up and realized there was a few cracks above us, the truck engines and the burly voice sounded liked they were coming directly from behind those tiny cracks. We're here... Finally, we're here... Now we just have to get up there... "Marceline, we're almost there!" I excitedly cried out as I struggled to stand back up onto my own feet. My eyes darted to and fro as I surveyed around for Marceline in the thick and dusty darkness surrounding me. There was no signs of her... My heart began to quicken its pace as I frantically searched for her. Where is she? Where is she?!

"Louis! Help!" My eyes lit up with shock and worry as soon as I heard her echoing cries for help. I then turned my head towards the source of her cries of help only to see nothing but the edge of the sewers' drain. What the? Where is she? Unless... Oh, no... No... "Marceline!" I called out to her as I struggled to stumble my way closer to the edge of the drain. I immediately peered over the edge of the drain, hoping that I was wrong. No... But much to my shock, I saw Marceline was dangerously hanging over the murky waters by a rusted metal pipe. "Oh my God! Marceline, are you alright?!" I knelt down, more like lifelessly dropping down out of tiring pain, beside the edge of the drain. She looked up at me as she was hanging from the metal pipe, her watering crimson eyes were filled with terror as she held onto the metal pipe for all of dear life with both of her hands. "Louis!" She cried out for me, her terrified echoing voice slightly haunted me and made my heart literally skipped a beat.

I immediately outstretched my hand towards her as hard as I could, trying to reach the little girl. "Take my hand! Hurry!" I desperately cried out to her. I saw Marceline slowly letting go of the pipe, freeing one of her own hands. Using her free hand, she outstretched it towards mine... Come on, Louis... Come on... I... I can't reach her... She's too way far down... "I'm gonna get you out of here!" I screamed at her, trying to reassure her. But... What am I suppose to do? Wait... What the hell is she doing? She lifted up the satchel from her shoulder and promptly extended it towards me instead. "Marceline?" "Please save... my mother's brooch first..." She grunted as she held up the satchel towards me using her free hand. I'm not going to leave her down there any longer... I quickly grabbed onto her worn out satchel and promptly pulled it upwards, bringing Marceline along with it. With one of my hand firmly grabbing onto the satchel she was holding up, I used my other hand to immediately try and reach for Marceline's free hand, which was holding up the satchel. "Come on, Marceline..." A sudden snapping sound immediately struck fear into my heart. My eyes lit up with shock as I stole a glance at the rusted metal pipe Marceline was holding onto, only to see that it was breaking in half...

"MARCELINE!"

I cried out for her as I made one final desperate reach for her hand. No! No! I can't get her! I can't fucking reach her! As the rusted metal pipe snapped in half from her weight, Marceline lost her balance and fell from the edge of the drain and right into the murky waters below, my hand narrowly missing hers. Her horrified face as she fell into the murky waters still haunted me... Her satchel was still in my hand... Damn it! "Marceline!" I cried out as I peered into the rushing waters, trying desperately to find her... Where is she? Goddamn it, I couldn't see anything pass the thick darkness, let alone the very murky waters. Oh God, where is she? Where the fuck is she?! My eyes frantically darted to and fro in the water, trying to find any possible signs of her... Wait...

Wait! There she is! Her small head suddenly emerged into the surface of the murky waters as she immediately took a deep breath of air. I was slightly relieved that she was fine but she was still helpless against the currents of the rushing waters. I have to get to her! I dropped her satchel onto the bank of the drain and quickly took out my jacket before I quickly ran forward into the darkness as fast as I possibly could, desperately trying to catch up to Marceline by following the bank of the sewer drain. When I was sprinting with all the stamina I could muster, I noticed something was different at the end of the drain... It was then that I realized a large gaping metal maw stood at the end of the drain, which leads immediately to a straight drop into an unending abyss. It was getting clear to me that's where all the water and worst, Marceline, was heading directly into. If I don't get to her in time, then Marceline would surely drown in there or something much worse...

Damn it! It keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it? Just hurry it up, Louis! You have to save her! I desperately quicken my pace as I tried not to lose sight of her in the water. Don't lose her again... When I was fast approaching as hopefully close to her as I possibly could, I immediately dived into the murky waters below without a single moment of hesitation. A loud splash could be heard as it echoed throughout the sewers... "Marceline!" I cried out desperately as I struggled against the harsh currents of the murky waters to frantically swim closer and closer to her. I have to get to her! Marceline's head was repeatedly bobbing up and down lifelessly on the surface of the murky waters, she was practically helpless against the strong currents... I could hardly breathe properly as I was desperately swimming to her, trying not to lose myself against the currents. Come on, Louis... You have to get busy swimming right this instant or get busy drowning... Eventually, I realized that we were getting closer and closer to the gaping maw at the end of the sewer drain and I'm not even making any progress at all in saving her... Come on, Louis! What the hell are you doing? You're not going to die like this... You're not going to make her die for this... Do it for her...

I rose to the surface of the murky water and took one last desperate gasp of air before I quickly swam towards Marceline with all the energy I had left inside of me. I forced myself to give everything for her... I had to save her! I outstretched both of my hands as hard as I could, trying to grab her in anyway I possibly could. Almost there... Come on... Come on! I have... I got her! I grabbed her by the arm and immediately pulled her closer to me. She was out cold... but she seemed mostly alright to me, hopefully... I tried my best to keep her head above the surface of the water as long as I could. We were moments away before we reached the gaping maw and before the fall right into the dark abyss. I was frantically panicking and my heart rate felt like it was going nuts inside me... My eyes desperately darted everywhere for a way out... Oh God, I need a way out... But where? And how? But as if on cue to answer all of my prayers, it was then that I finally saw it... An emergency metal ladder leading right back up to the sewer bank. I was thankful at first but then I realized the ladder was near the edge of the gaping maw. It means that if I fail to grab it, it could literally be the death of us... Nothing's ever so simple... Come on, upper body strength... Don't fail me now!

I slowly swam closer to the wall with Marceline firmly in tow, preparing myself for the upcoming pain. When the ladder was fast approaching directly towards me, I've readied myself and reached out for the metal ladder. "AARRGGHH!" My grunts of pain echoed throughout the sewers as I wrapped my elbow onto the last bar of the metal ladder for all of dear life... My body was dangling helplessly right at the edge of the gaping maw as the blinding darkness inside it seemed like it could open up and engulf me where I am. I was holding Marceline with my other arm as tightly as I could. I won't be letting her go anytime soon... I glanced up the metal ladder leading towards the sewer bank above us. I'm almost there... Thank God... I suddenly heard the sounds of Marceline coughing for air. I turned to her and saw she was slowly opening her eyes. Her crimson eyes was immediately surprised to see me. "Louis..." She whispered softly as she weakly smiled. "You actually saved me..." "That's what friends are for, am I right?" I smiled at her as I was still holding onto the ladder. "Thank you..." She gently whispered to my ear as she began to carefully clutch onto my body. I stifled a weak chuckle as I looked back up the imposing metal ladder. I turned to Marceline and softly smiled, "I think it's time for us to finally leave this place..."

"So, you're really okay then?"

"Yes, I'm fine..." Our voices echoed throughout the tunnels as I slowly but surely climbed up the metal ladder through the darkness. Marceline was tightly clutching onto my back until I finally reached to the top of the ladder and the bank of the sewer drain. Marceline promptly hopped from my back and onto the solid ground as I immediately fall backwards onto the ground, thankful that it doesn't try to drown us. I was desperately panting for air as I laid there, struggling to breath normally. "Are YOU okay, Louis?" I heard Marceline's voice nearby, full of worry and guilt. Why does she have to feel guilty? "I'm good... I'm good... You don't have to worry about me..." I gave her a thumbs up sign as I forced a grin on my face.

As I slowly sat back up, I weakly exclaimed, "Okay... Let's get to those trucks..." "We can't..."She muttered depressingly. "What... Why?" I almost jumped in shock but I was too tired to move... "That's... That's the only way back to the checkpoint..." She explained as she pointed towards the cave in of debris at the other end of the sewer tunnel. "No... No..." It was the only thing I could say... "Isn't there any other way?" I frantically questioned her. "There is... But we have to go back somewhere... somewhere in the town..." Her voice increasingly grew more dreaded and frightened. "Marceline... I..." Before I could say anything else, the sounds of explosions and gunfire from up above immediately silenced me. My heart sank as I finally knew what she meant. Damn it! Why is it still happening? Why?! When will it end? Another deafening explosion could be heard from up above, causing the sewer tunnels around us to shake violently and small amounts of dust to drop on us.

"AH!" My heart almost skipped a beat to the sudden sound of Marceline's terrified screams. I then saw her running from me and frighteningly curled up against the wall, using her hands to tightly close her ears so that she can ignore the noise... The terrible noise of War... I didn't know what to do... I simply gazed at her with sheer sympathy, not knowing how hard it is for a lonely little girl to witness a destructive War... I could see her sitting all alone over there curling up against the wall, her body was shaking uncontrollably, from the cold of the murky waters and from the fear caused by the War.

I softly sighed to myself as I struggled to quickly get back up on my feet. I shambled my way towards where I last placed Marceline's worn out satchel and my brown jacket. I then slowly made my way to Marceline's side before I simply dropped down next to her, too tired to do anything else... She was surprised to see me as I covered her up with my jacket, hoping that it could prove some degree of warmth for her. "Close your ears, Marceline..." I instructed her. "Ignore every scary sound as best as you could... Ignore it all. Except this..." I whispered to her as I promptly opened her mother's musical box, immediately flooding the sewer tunnels with the hauntingly beautiful tune. "Whatever you do, concentrate on this... Just ignore everything else and concentrate on this..." Her frightened crimson eyes kept staring at the musical box laid before her as it repeatedly play its enchanting tune. Her body stopped shaking ever so slightly as I sat next to her, my eyes slowly closing... I realized I never had my sleep yet... And as the sounds of battle could still be clearly heard raging from up above, I tried my best to simply ignore all of it as I slowly- I slowly... Drift to... sleep...

"Your friend... sounds like a... wonderful person."

"Yeah, Simon also knows how to play a few musical instruments... Maybe he can teach you how to play the bass. That is what you want, isn't it?" I cheerfully exclaimed as I slowly walked through the darkness of the sewers. "Yeah! I want to start a band that will change people's lives!" Marceline excitedly yelled, her voice echoed through the sewers. Only her voice... Nothing else... "Then it's a plan, Marceline! I can't wait to hear all of your music!" I weakly chuckled. "Okay, Marceline... Which way?" I asked her as I paused at a crossroad in the sewer tunnels. "Okay... Um... Turn left!" Marceline, who was riding on my back, directed me to the correct pathway. After what she's been through, I decided to carry her for the rest of the way. It's the least I can do for her... She had to leave behind her cloak and ragged outfit after being drenched in the murky waters though. Now I have to hope that my jacket can warm her up a bit instead.

"So what kind of songs will you be playing?" I asked her as I blindly followed her directions. "It's no fun if you already knew all of the songs... But all I can tell you that it's going to knock your socks off!" She exclaimed excitedly. "My socks are ready to be knocked off!" I yelled out loudly, the echoing only made it seemed more funnier as we both laughed. She... She kind of reminded me of Hannah when she was younger... "We're almost there..." Marceline finally said as she pointed towards a metal ladder leading to a partially opened manhole at the end of tunnel. I immediately quicken my pace towards it until we finally reached the metal ladder. "Okay... Marceline, I need you to listen to me..." I told her, my tone of voice quickly changed...

"I need you to close your ears as tightly as you can... I need you to close your eyes and never open them until I told you otherwise... Whatever you do or whatever happens, I need you to hold on to me as hard as you can, understand?" I coldly instructed her. "Okay..." She muttered softly to herself. "Ready, Marceline?" She didn't answer back because she was already closing her ears. "That's a good girl..." I took a deep breath before I started climbing the metal ladder. She tighten her grip around my neck and shoulder as we slowly but surely ascended into the surface. Thankfully, the lid of the manhole easily slid open as I carefully peered outside. I was surprised to see we were in some kind of hidden alleyway. There was a light and calming rain coming down on us as I saw the city's fires was still raging on in the distance. I also noticed that there was no more sounds of planes in the skies and thankfully, no more thunderous sounds of the bombs... It's finally over? "...Do you see anything?" Marceline chimed in from behind me. "It's time to get out of here..." I replied as I climbed out of the manhole with Marceline. Wait... I think- I think I know this place... It was one of the alleyways we passed when we were going to that boutique. It felt like that happened ages ago... But that means the checkpoint is nearby... I just have to go through a few blocks on the road, I think... "Marceline, close your ears and never open your eyes..." I warned her yet again to which she simply nodded as I slowly made my way out of the alleyway. As we reached the streets, we- Oh my God...

The scene was a stark contrast to what I saw from the alleyway. Buildings were blown wide open and fallen debris was scattered around the roads. "Louis?" "Close your eyes!" I snapped at her as I forced my way to the checkpoint. Oh God... There were burning buildings everywhere... Where is everyone? The streets were completely devoid of any life... What the hell happened? We passed by what seemed to be a military truck, overturned and crashed against a nearby building. Could it be one of those evacuation trucks? I shudder to think so... I- I can't breathe... The smoke was too thick! "Marceline, hold your breath as long as you could..." I told her, not even sure whether or not if she heard me. I could see shell casings around the floor of almost literally everywhere. I don't even need to know where they came from... I noticed a black jet was hanging at the edge of one of the buildings, clear signs of it being shot down. As I stumbled my way across the streets, I was shocked to see an old woman appearing out of nowhere from the thick smoke. Her eyes were completely empty and her face was emotionless as she slowly wandered past me, ignoring both of us. Her entire face and both of her hands were bleeding profusely...

There was a distant rumbling sound like something heavy was falling apart before a loud thumping sound could be heard. "Agh! Fucking hell! Help! Somebody help me! Somebody!" A distant voice echoed across the night as I slowly made my way towards the checkpoint. "Somebody! Oh God, ANYBODY!" I could feel Marceline's body started to shake uncontrollably... "...Louis?" "I told you to close your ears!" I yelled at her as I forced myself to move forward. What if there's no more evacuation trucks at the checkpoint or what if the evacuation is about to end? We have no way of clearly knowing but whatever the case is, we can't afford to lose anymore time... "Oh God! Oh God! Anybody, please help me!" It wasn't long before I couldn't even hear his voice anymore...

I just left him behind; Just like that... But the really strange thing is... I don't feel anything... My heart felt nothing at all... Shouldn't I be devastated to see all of this total destruction? All of this suffering? Am I... Am I no longer human? No... I give up... I couldn't do this anymore... As I looked up into the thick clouds hanging high above me, the burning city's glow lighting up the once silent and dark night. I'm sorry, my Mother, I'm sorry... If you're watching me, please forgive me... I'm truly sorry... The light rain quickly washed away the lifeless tears on my face as I desperately coughed for air, struggling to even took another step forward. But I know I have to move on... For Marceline... For Hannah... As I turned my gaze forward, I could finally see the familiar holographic roadblock of the checkpoint at the end of the road. "We're almost there, Marceline..." I immediately quicken my pace towards the bright light of the hologram, leaving the town behind me...

"Get these last trucks loaded up already! We're leaving this place behind!" I heard someone shouting as we finally arrived at the entrance of the checkpoint. To my incredible relief, it turns out that the checkpoint still stands... The holographic roadblock suddenly dematerialized as I could immediately see the familiar Major was ordering his soldiers into directing people from the refugee camp and some civilians from the town into what I presumed, was the last three trucks. Without a single moment of hesitation, I immediately rushed towards one of the nearest military trucks. "Hey! Over here!" I called out to one of the soldiers standing next to the trucks and directing the remaining people inside.

"Is this the evacuation truck?" The soldier promptly nodded and quickly explained, "Yes sir, but the roads are too messed up right now. So we're going to take a different path which leads straight into the neighboring city of New Tristram and directly towards the safety of the underground bunker known as Beautopia." "That's... great." I exclaimed happily and filled with pure relief, still gasping and panting for air. As I went closer to the truck, the soldier quickly raised his hand to stop me from approaching the truck. "But I'm sorry to tell you this sir, but these trucks are for women and children first. There will be other trucks coming here anytime soon to evacuate you-" "No! It's not for me! It's for her..." I immediately interrupted the soldier as I turned around revealing Marceline on my back. "...What?" Marceline who was still shaken after what we've been through seemed so shocked at my sudden outburst... The soldier quickly fell quiet and nodded at me before immediately pointing towards the back of one of the trucks. Without stopping a beat, I quickly approached the back of the truck and gently let Marceline go onto it as other people were slowly getting into the truck.

"...You're leaving?" She asked me in disbelief. "Yeah, I still have to go and find my wife..." "Can- Can I come with you?" She asked again, her crimson eyes seemed hopeful. "No... It's just too dangerous for you..." I finally told her, much to her sheer disappointment and sadness. "But... But I can help!" Marceline muttered, her eyes began to water. "No, it's not that... I just don't want to see you get hurt..." I had to explain it to her as carefully as I can. "Then... Then why did you come all the way here with me?" She asked, seemingly confused as tears began to roll down her cheeks. I smiled weakly at her as I gently wiped the tears from her cheeks and said softly, "I needed to make sure my best friend got out of here safely..." "But friends are supposed to stay together, you can't just leave me alone!" She exclaimed in disbelief, tightening her grip around her satchel and my jacket. "Marceline... I..."

"Don't leave me alone, Louis! You told me to always stay close to you! You told me-" "I know!" I finally raised my voice at hers, immediately silencing her. "It's- It's just too dangerous for you, Marceline... And I don't want to see you get hurt. So please understand, Marceline, I-" "What if I wait for you instead? You're going the same way as I am, aren't you?" She exclaimed as she shook her head, denying what I'm trying to say to her. "Please, Marceline... Do not wait for me... Promise me that you won't wait for me at New Tristram or anywhere else... I want you to promise me that you'll go directly to Beautopia and be safe..." I desperately pleaded at her. But she didn't answer immediately... "Marceline, please promise me..."

"Okay, Louis... I- I promise..." She finally answered back without even looking directly at me, hiding her hands behind her back before she tightly clutched onto her worn out satchel. "That's a good girl..." I softly smiled at her as I gently patted her head. She raised her head and smiled sweetly, her piercing crimson eyes gazing directly into me, "I understand, Louis... But will I get to see you again?" I'm... I wasn't sure what to answer... After all that happened here... After what I saw, I just don't know... But I still grinned on nonetheless, "Of course you will, Marceline... Friends will always see their close friends again no matter how distant they really are, as long as they always remember each other..." She suddenly outstretched her right hand's pinky finger in front of my face, much to my pleasant surprise.

"Then YOU have to promise me, okay? Promise me that we will see each other again... You can also bring your wife if you want to..." I was baffled by her sudden request. I'm not sure if we would even get the chance to see each other again... But I stifled a weak chuckle as my pinky finger finally met hers. "Okay, I promise, Marceline... Maybe you can even meet my son..." She seemed so eager and happy as I made my promise to her. "...What's your son's name?" She suddenly said softly as she smiled sweetly at me. "His... name is Fi-"

"Sorry sir, but we're almost out of time. We have to move out! You better finish saying your goodbyes right now." The soldier informed me as he tapped my shoulder, interrupting me before I could finish. "Wait! Louis, you forgot your jacket..." She shouted at me as she waved my tattered brown jacket to me. "Keep it..." I whispered to her as I heard the sounds of the truck's engine slowly starting up. "Well, I guess this is it then... for now... Remember your promise, okay?" She stifled a sad but happy expression across her face. "I will... As long as you keep your mother's brooch safe, okay?" I exclaimed softly as I slowly backed away, making room for the truck to move. I was slightly surprised to see that it was the last truck out of the three to leave the checkpoint. "I will! And Louis... Thank you... For everything..." She smiled sweetly at me as she clutched her drenched satchel tightly. "It's been really nice meeting you, Marceline..." The truck started to slowly move forward, leaving me behind. "Goodbye!" Marceline waved goodbye at me as the truck was slowly getting farther and farther away from me. I stifled a weak smile as I waved back at her until she was finally gone from my sight. "Good luck, Marceline..."

"Louis? Is that you, Louis?"

A familiar gruff voice called out from behind me. "Louis!" I turned around and saw... It was Henry! He was wearing a dark blue raincoat while carrying a black umbrella. "For God's sake, I've been looking for you all over the place!" He yelled at me as he quickly approached me. "Henry! You came back!" I sighed out of pure relief. "What the hell happened to you, man? Your face is all freaking messed up and your clothes are all drenched. Haven't you heard of an umbrella or a bomb shelter or anything?" He lectured me on how to survive as he proceeded to shelter me from the rain with the umbrella. I didn't quite listen to him... I'm just glad that he actually came back for me... "Henry! The War-" I cried out... "Yeah, I know all about it. It's a big fucking mess! That's why we have to hurry!" He interrupted me as he handed over the umbrella to me.

"Hurry? You're talking about to Hannah, right?" I exclaimed in confusion. "Of course to Hannah! Where else could we be going right now?" Henry started to walk away from me in a hurried manner, leaving me standing there with the umbrella. "But the bombs... Are you sure-" I immediately followed him dutifully, trying to catch up with him. "Haven't you heard, Louis? Mercy Hospital is completely untouched by the bombs! That's why we have to get to her now!" He urgently shouted back at me as he approached the same military jeep from before, which was parked neatly behind him. Is Henry correct? Is it actually true? Mercy Hospital is untouched by the bombs?

Oh thank God... Thank you, God... That means she's still alright... That means Hannah is still fine... I excitedly nodded at him and quickly rushed towards the side of the passenger's seat. I quickly closed the umbrella before promptly opening the passenger's door and entered the military jeep. I simply threw the umbrella at the back seat before I finally paused myself and took a long and very deep breath. I made it... I finally made it. And I'm really tired too... "We're going in a different way though... We have to circle around the city instead. Unless you want to go through the burning city?" Henry said sarcastically as he entered the driver's seat of the military jeep. I simply chuckled weakly... Why am I laughing?

I then remembered something when I realized it was only us sitting inside the jeep. "What about your daughter, Henry? Where is she? Is she safe?" I asked him as he was starting the engine of the jeep. "She's safe... I'm just meeting up with her somewhere else..." Henry said softly before he immediately drove outside of the checkpoint and directly towards the crumbling city... We're almost there, Hannah... Just hang in there, please... I'm coming for you...

"Um... Louis. You wouldn't mind if I set the heater on really high, would you?"


	8. Life within Death

Before the Mushroom War

Life within Death

"Somebody, help me!"

"Have you seen my son?"

"Oh God, ANYBODY! HELP ME!"

"We thought that she was alone!"

"You told me to always stay close to you!"

"Louis! Wake up, man! Hey, c'mon! Louis, wake up!"

I almost jumped from my seat when Henry suddenly called for me. My entire body felt sore as I immediately tried to get comfortable with the hard leather seats of the jeep. "I can't believe you actually fell asleep… What in the world did you do last night?" Henry said with an inquisitive look in his eyes as he drive the military jeep. "I- I rather not talk about it..." I simply muttered, a slight smile cross my face as memories of the very special girl known as Marceline flashed through my mind; But before a frown quickly replaced it as I woefully remembered everything else...

"Well whatever it is and knowing you, it must've been something incredibly stupid and crazy." Henry said sarcastically. "...Where are we?" I slowly sat back up against the passenger seat before stifling out a loud yawn. The oak trees were whizzing by in an instance as the sun slowly rises over the horizon, its warm glow cascading throughout the land and letting in the new day. "We're on the road that leads right towards the hill of Mercy Hospital." Henry explained as he make a right turn along the road. "I still can't believe you fell asleep, Louis. You missed the entire city..." "About the city... How was it, Henry? Is it really that bad?" Henry let out a deep sigh before he fell silent.

"It was a real mess in there, Louis... All of the buildings were either crumbled or crumbling down to dust. There were large craters and big chunks of the buildings were right in the middle of the roads and smoke was literally everywhere. Thank God, the city was mostly empty when the bombs landed... I hate to think what would happen if it wasn't for the evacuation..." My face was emotionless and cold as I stared at the road onwards, contemplating about the dark picture painted by Henry. Thankfully, the city was mostly empty... but to think, what took years to built an entire city only take mere minutes to destroy one... This War is wasteful and senseless and just plain stupid! They think they're fighting for the remaining valuable resources in this planet and protecting their countries own future but is it really worth the lives of their entire civilizations and start an all-out War? I don't know how to lead a country or anything but there must be some kind of logical compromise or something... There must be... Why can't they all just work together to solve the problem instead of trying to kill each other, making the problem that much worst than it originally is? I guess it's hopeless to do anything now but it still makes me really angry just thinking about it...

"Whoa there, Louis... You zoned out a bit back there."

"...Huh? What?" I looked up from my seat and saw Henry was glancing at me strangely. "You looked like you blacked out for a minute there... And I thought I heard you whispering to yourself..." Henry said as he immediately shrugged off with the strange glances and continued to drive forward. "Sorry about that... I'm just thinking out loud to myself." I said softly. "Thinking out loud... but to yourself? What are you... A crazy mad scientist or something?" Henry raised his eyebrows in befuddlement. I stifled a weak laugh as I realized Henry still doesn't know about my little habit. "No... I'm just thinking about the War and how pointless it really is... How they're just making everything worse with this stupid War... Why don't they just help each other instead of killing each other?"

"Well, people are getting desperate, Louis... They're willing to do anything for what they think it's the best for their own people. I mean... If your family and some other person's family is in danger, you're much more willing to save your own family no matter what, am I right?" Well when you put it that way, I guess Henry do have a bit of a point there... "And you, Louis... Knowing what would happen next... with the War and... Hannah, would you have done anything differently? Would you have change anything in the past?" Henry quickly asked me in a serious tone. I sat there contemplating in silence as I gazed out of the tinted windows and saw the lush autumn trees whizzing past us. "No..." I finally muttered under my breath. "...Why?" "Because I know I'm not the only scientist in this whole world, Henry... They are smarter people than me out there... If they can't do anything to stop this goddamn War from even happening, then what possible hope could I have done anything different to change this? What could I really do to stop this, Henry? I'm just a guy who just builds useless gadgets and moving metal junk all day..." I finally explained to Henry why I never came back, in a soft and depressed tone.

"I... understand, Louis... I never thought about it that way before... I guess I owe you an apology for that little shakedown back at your home, huh?" He said apologetically as he made another turn into a deserted roundabout. I continued to sat there in silence, unresponsive to Henry. "Well, the past is in the past, Louis... No matter how much we dwell in it, there's still nothing we can do about it right now... The least we can do is to start thinking about the future and finding a way on how we're going to survive long enough so that we could see it." Henry said softly as I discreetly lowered the heater of the jeep, as it was getting too stuffy in here. "I guess you're right, Henry..." I stifled a weak smile at him as the rest of the drive immediately became silent between us...

"Look alive, Louis! We're almost there..."

I looked up from my seat and saw that we were climbing up some kind of small hill before finally stopping in front of a large and rusted metal gate. The words 'Mercy Hospital' was written in bright bronze letters on the wall right next to the metal gate. "...A gate?" I glanced confusingly at Henry whom immediately started sounding the deafening horn of the jeep. I noticed a small panel on the gate immediately sliding open and a pair of eyes suddenly came out from it, staring directly at us. "Who the hell are you people?" A thick and raspy voice called out to us. Henry slid down his window and proceeded to yell at the guy behind the gate, "We're here for Mercy Hospital!" "Oh yeah? What do you people want from us? We've got nothing left in here so just... Leave us alone!"

"What?! No... We're just trying to find his wife!" Henry yelled back as he pointed directly at me. The pair of eyes seem thoughtful for a while before the panel suddenly slid shut. Henry sat back down at his seat as I stared at him, who seemed just as confused as I am. But then metal gate suddenly swung open slowly revealing a bearded African-American old man wearing a ragged trench coat. "Welcome to Mercy Hospital, gentlemen!" The old man called out as he gestured us inside the compound of the hospital before backing away. Henry whom was still a bit perplexed, quickly shrugged it off and promptly drove inside the compound. I was immediately shocked to see that there was other military trucks and even a military APC inside the compound. There were also a small camp right in front of the hospital and it seemed to be for the refugees and the soldiers. "They were in the middle of evacuating this place, remember?" Henry answered me before I could even say anything.

The large hospital stood overlooking me, its white walls and clean environment clearly juxtaposed to the dirty and old camp right in front of its courtyard. These people seemed like they have been living here for a while now, with the scattered campfires and rationed supply crates. There was even a little makeshift farm and well at one corner of the courtyard, guarded closely by some of the soldiers. And judging from the look on their faces, I'm afraid they will shoot anyone on sight. Henry suddenly halted the jeep, almost throwing me forward from my seat, and immediately turned off the engine. I glared annoyingly at him whom simply smiled wryly back at me before opening the metal door of the jeep. I followed suit and was quite surprised to see the old man from before standing right in front of my door. "Sorry about the rough introduction from before, sonny." "It's not a problem at all..." I replied softly. "It's just that trust is really hard to come by over here... and we can never be too sure if it's one of those darned looters."

"Well, I guess those looters won't be a problem anymore." Henry cried out from the other side of the jeep as he quickly approaches me, he wasn't wearing the dark blue rain coat anymore. He must've dumped it in the back seat or something... but I wonder why he wasn't wearing his colonel outfit. He was wearing a black jacket and a pair of blue trousers instead. I guess he must've changed when he met up with his daughter... "I know what you mean, mister... I could hear those bombs coming from the city all the way over here. It sounded horrific... It... It felt like those thunders were actually drums announcing the arrival of the apocalypse itself..." The old man said as he shudders at the thought. "Don't worry about it... You're all going to be safe once you evacuated." Henry gently placed his hand on the old man's shoulder, calming him down a bit. "Yeah, we will evacuate with the military once we finished up with the sick and elderly in the hospital. My name's Martin, by the way... The supposed leader of the refugees..." He outstretched his hands towards me. "It's nice to meet you, Martin..." I stifled a weak smile at him as my hand shook his.

"You said your wife was here, didn't you? ...Where is she?" He proceeded to ask me. "She's actually one of the patients that arrived here in an ambulance yesterday. Is she here?" I inquired on nonetheless, hoping for a very good answer. Martin's weary eyes immediately lit up as if he just realized something. "Oh! So that woman was your wife? She arrived here last evening actually!" "Really? Where is she?" I exclaimed excitedly, my voice was full of pure relief. "She's still in the emergency department, son... The emergency room on Block B, that one to the right..." Martin exclaimed as he pointed towards a building of the hospital compound. "But she's still-" I immediately sprinted towards the building as fast as I could, a broad smile of happiness was on my face. "Whoa, Louis! Slow down" I heard Henry calling out from behind me as I finally arrived at the building. But I couldn't wait... I need to see her... I quickly opened the front wooden doors of the hospital and rushed inside the building. I ran through the clean white hallways, darting through various nurses and doctors in the hospital. "Hey, you're not allowed to be in here!" One of them cried out angrily to me but I was already long gone by then...

I was closely following the signs on the walls which is leading me directly to the emergency room... I'm almost... Over there! I could see it at the end of the hallway as clear as day. A set of metal double doors with the sign 'Emergency Room' right above it. As I finally arrived at the doors, two doctors with grim looks on their faces emerged from the other side of the doors and quickly pushed past me, ignoring me entirely. Fearing for the worst, I quickly opened the door only to be greeted with another room with a female doctor inside, whom was observing through some kind of glass window. "Hey, you can't be in here!" She yelled to me as she quickly turned towards me. "I need to see my wife!" I pleaded to her. "She's still under labour, sir... There was some... complications when she was trying to give birth. We have been working on her for almost all night now, and your interruption isn't helping anybody!" She continued to yell at me, asking me to leave and wait outside, but I couldn't care less at what she was saying.

"Please... For God's sake, I just need to see how is she doing... I really need to see her..." I begged the doctor, almost dropping down on my knees. "Please leave immediately, sir, or I will notify security immediately!" She yelled, ignoring me as my pleas clearly fell on deaf ears. No! I can't leave... Not like this... Not when I am this close to her... Without thinking at all, I quickly pushed aside the doctor as I approached the glass window in the room. When I peered inside, I saw there was at least three doctors, fully clad in surgeon outfits, as they circle around some kind of bed and... Damn it, I can't see her! The doctors were blocking my whole view of her. I have to get in there... I have- "Louis! What the hell are you doing?" I turned around and saw Henry was at the door of the emergency room, finally caught up with me. "I need to see her, Henry..." "That doesn't mean you have to be a crazy whack job!" Henry shouted at me as he quickly approached me in a threatening manner. "Please, Henry... Hannah... I-" Henry immediately rushed towards me before I could even finish, easily grappling me and pinning me down before I could even do anything to fight back. Within seconds, Henry quickly overpowered me and promptly dragged me out of the room, no matter how hard I tried to struggle free... "He- Henry... Goddamn it..."

"You really need to calm down, pal..."

How long has it been already? I was sitting on one of the chairs in the waiting room of the hospital right in front of the deserted reception desk. My thoughts were continuously flooded about Hannah as I continued to fiddle around with the little white hat she had made... There was still no news about what is bloody happening. Nothing at all. And the thought of knowing absolutely nothing is completely draining me... God, what is going on? I couldn't help but tighten my grasp around the strange little object within my fingers.

As I was fiddling around with the little white hat, I began to notice something quite odd about the little hat. It was incredibly stretchy for once, as I placed my thumb inside and pushed, just to see how long it could go. She must've made it specially somehow... I'm not so sure how but- What's this? There- There was a little word sewn at the interiors of the hat in one discreet corner. It was incredibly small, for once... I had to squint my eyes and concentrate just so I could make sense of what it was. To my surprise, I was taken aback to see that the word was actually just written 'Finn'. Her father's name? ...Our child's name? What does this mean? Is- Is the hat actually meant for our son?

"How are you feeling now, Louis?" I looked up and saw Henry approaching me with a glass of water at his hand and a piece of bun on the other. "I'm sorry about earlier, Henry... I didn't know what came over me... I'm just so worried about her..." I muttered apologetically as I placed the little white hat back into my pocket. Henry knelt down in front of me and smiled, "It's alright, Louis. I might have done the same thing if it was my late wife..." I... didn't know his wife had passed away... I guess I don't know him as well as I thought I did. "Here, man... I noticed that you haven't eaten yet, so I brought you some breakfast." Henry gently handed me the glass of water and the bun. "Thanks, Henry..." I smiled weakly at him before I immediately started eating the small bun. Henry nodded at me before he stood back up and slowly walk away. "Stay here and relax, okay? I'm going to find the radio in this place... And don't worry about it. She'll be fine, Louis..." Henry said softly before proceeding to leave me alone in the waiting room.

It wasn't long before I finished the bun and the glass of water. I felt a little bit satisfied now that my stomach isn't completely empty... I stood up from my seat and walked towards the deserted reception desk. I placed the empty glass onto the desk and surveyed around in the waiting room. I could see the front doors of the building with everyone outside living out their own lives. I realized I was completely alone in here... I glanced at the reception desk and noticed there was a phone on the table. Suddenly remembering about my Mom, I quickly circled to the other side of the desk. Maybe this phone would get a better reception than my glass hand phone... I quickly took the phone out from its socket and input the number of my mother, using my hand phone as a reference. I waited for a long while with bated breath but in the end... there was nothing but a long silence at the other end... I tried to call her again... and again... and again... and again... and again... Always silence... My heart sank as I dropped back down onto the nearby wooden chair behind the reception desk. A single tear crossed my eye as my mind began to wander off, thinking all about the things my Mother ever did for me... How she had taken care of me as a child... How she had supported me throughout my life... How she had loved me as her son... I'm sorry, Mother... I'm so sorry... Oh, God, Why did I have to make sure?

My glass hand phone suddenly began to lit up, distracting me from my thoughts. It was signalling that it's almost running out of its batteries. I gently picked up the phone and saw Simon's name under Mother's in the contacts list... For some reason, I decided to try calling him instead. Using my phone as a reference, I input his number on the desk's phone. I pressed the phone against my ear as I waited for any answer. This is stupid... I bet he's probably already safe or something- "Betty! Is that you, Betty? I'm so sorry, Betty!" I immediately jumped up from the chair as Simon's voice suddenly came out of nowhere. "Simon! It's me, Louis!" "Louis?" He was confused at the thought of my name. "Yeah, Louis... Your best friend, remember?" What in the world is wrong with him? "Louis! You need to help me!" He desperately cried out. "Help you? From what? Where the hell are you, Simon?" I frantically questioned him. "I'm... I'm still inside my home..." My eyes immediately lit up with shock as he uttered the words. "Why are you still there, Simon? Get Betty and get the hell out of there! Don't you two know there's a goddamn War happening right now?" I kept yelling and yelling at him but for some reason, he sounded so distant. It was like he wasn't exactly himself... I could hear him mumbling to himself instead, it sounded incomprehensible but I think I could make out a few words, "So... that's what it meant then... That's how the frost will save me..." What in the world is he talking about? "The frost will save you, Simon? What are you talking about?" I cried out but... Damn it! There was still no answer...

"Louis, listen to me... I want you to leave me behind... I want you to forget about me and just get yourself to safety... I think... I think I'll be fine..."

His raspy voice suddenly blurred from the phone, much to my shock. Now he's just talking nonsense... "Simon, just give the phone to Betty! Where is Betty?" I could hear him silently sobbing to himself as he answered, "Betty's gone, Louis. She's gone... She left me behind..." Betty left him? But... But why? "Where is she? What is going on, Simon?" "The crown, Louis! It's the crown... Oh God, it's all about the crown... It's... What have I done?" He was practically muttering to himself nonsensically. "What crown, Simon? For God's sake, what are you talking about?" I don't know what to do or what to even say to my horrified best friend... "Please, you have to help me, Louis... I can't think clearly... I can't remember anything so well... I mean... I can't even remember my own number... And I think they're getting closer and closer..." He whispered to me in a scared and terrified tone. "How could I possibly help you if you won't tell me what the hell is going on over there?" I asked, more like begged, to know what is going on with him...

I finally heard him slowly taking a deep breath at the other end of the line. "I found something in Scandinavia... It was a crown... When I wore it, it made me see things... I didn't know what I did but Betty was so afraid of me that she had to leave... Oh God, I didn't know what I did... It was suppose to be just a joke... I think I'm losing my mind, Louis... The crown wants me to do something...I'm not so sure what. But for some reason, I think it may have some connections to the Enchiridion... It's just... It's just that I can't exactly remember what was it!" He desperately explained to me, beckoning for my help. Much as I was confused at his outlandish explanation, I still need to help my friend... He's in trouble... But what am I suppose to do?

Wait a second... I think I know a way... "Simon, explain how the crown looks like... You showed me the Enchiridion so... I think I could remember some parts about it!" I loudly suggested. "It's worth a shot, Louis... The crown is... uh... The crown is golden, topped with three points and adorned with three red gems." Okay, so a golden crown with three points and adorned with three red gems... There must be something I could remember... I mean... Simon was practically showing off the book to everyone when he first found it... So there must be some- Wait... A golden crown with three red gems... "I got it!" I excitedly exclaim at the phone. "What... What is it?" Simon almost begged for the answers. "The Ice King! He was some kind of fabled legend that was recorded in the legends of the Enchiridion!" I explained of what I could struggle to remember. "The Ice King?" He muttered in confusion.

"He was some kind of legendary hero or some kind of terrible evil... I'm not so sure which is which. I wasn't exactly paying attention at the time you showed it to me..." I had to admit it at one point, plus my terrible memory wasn't really helping... "Oh..." Simon whispered disappointingly. "But you know what that means, right? It means that this crown of yours may have some connection with the Enchiridion, after all..." I tried my best to look at the bright side of things... "You're... You're right..." Simon muttered in a surprised manner. "That's right... You can go check out the Enchiridion and find a way to save yourself!" I slightly smiled; I'm not sure of what I just did but I hoped I just helped my best friend. "Where is the Enchiridion?" This question slightly shocked me considering he delivered the Enchiridion himself. What actually happened to him?

"Simon... It's at the Museum of History... In New Tristram..." "Is it?" My heart keeps having a bad feeling whenever he couldn't even remember something he did. "Yeah, Simon... It's over there..." "Oh okay then, thank you... Louis... but what if I forget it again?" Simon's soft and terrified voice slightly echoed through the bad reception between us. A way to remember something? I think I know one... After all, it was Hannah who taught me about it... "Simon, tell me why are you trying to find the Enchiridion?" I immediately asked him, my fuzzy voice sounded distant. "Why? It's because... I want to... Get the crown out of my head... Get Betty back and tell her I'm sorry for whatever I did to her... I'll beg her to please forgive me and please love me again... And I guess I just want to see... a life-long friend of mine one more time..." Oh... I... I don't know what to say... "Okay... All you need to do is think about those things as hard as you can... Think about what you're about to do and why you're going to do it. Always remember the most important words... For example, you're going to 'New Tristram' so that you can find the 'Enchiridion' which will help you find out more about the 'Crown' so you could tell 'Betty' that you're sorry and-" "And to thanked 'Louis' for helping with all of this?" Simon quickly added... "Yeah, and me..."

"But... But what if it's not enough?" Simon muttered, still sounding terrified of his upcoming journey. "Then do everything based on those words... Write messages about them. Leave notes around your house about them... Or I don't know... Make bloody recorded videos about them! You need to try your best to remember, Simon!" I desperately exclaimed at him. I need him to succeed... "Make videos? Like tapes or something?"" Simon muttered softly to himself. I couldn't hear him properly... "Come again, Simon! I couldn't hear you..." "I think our connections are breaking up... I think I have to go now... I have to wait and get ready..." Simon whispered, scared and defeated. No... No... This can't be really happening...

"Wait, Simon... If this is probably the last time we're going to talk to each other... I wanted to tell you something..." There was a still silence between us... "I wanted to tell you that you were the closest thing I ever had to a good friend... I still remember how we met in the first year of high school, how we stuck together against the bullies and their stupid pranks, how we would always help each other through those aggravating lessons and how we would support and take care of each other through thick and thin. I know that after we graduated in college, we kind of grew apart to the point that my ignorance might even forget your face sometimes... But you always came back and we would instantly be friends again. It felt like nothing had change at all... I wanted to tell you that I always enjoyed the conversations we had between us. You helped me to speak out... and you might not know it, Simon, but you saved my life back in college... I wanted to say thank you for everything and... Goodbye, old friend..." I finished as my eyes started to tear up... There was still nothing but silence at the other end...

"Goodbye, Louis... And thank you for believing me and helping me with all of this... But please, don't say goodbye... We'll see each other again, you'll see..." Simon's voice whispered through the phone causing me to stifle out a soft and tiring chuckle. "You were always the wishful thinker, Simon..." I could hear Simon weakly laughing at the other end of the video. "I guess I am, Louis... But at least it's something I can hope for..." Crackling noises suddenly erupted from the other end of the phone, causing me to immediately turn my head away from it. What was that? No... No... No! I placed the phone back onto my ear only to discover that there was nothing but silence as it turns out, the line was cut off... I couldn't even comprehend about what just happened... It went by so fast... I... I just don't know... All I know is that my Mother is probably gone... I had just lost my only friend in the world... I don't even know what's going on with this world anymore... My feet finally gave up on me as I dropped back down onto the chair behind me before I slowly closed my eyes, trying my best to hold back the tears... I feel... I feel really cold inside...

"Everyone! I need everyone's attention immediately!"

The sound of people screaming and yelling from outside keeps distracting me from my thoughts. I tried to ignore it but it kept getting louder and louder to the point, I couldn't stand it and decided to go outside to see what in blazes is going on out there. I shambled my way towards the front double doors as the shouts were getting louder. As soon as I went through the double doors, I saw a large group of refugees were slowly surrounding a squad of soldiers next to the military trucks. They were loudly screaming in disdain and impatience as the soldiers were beckoning them all to be calm. I grew more and more curious of what's going on so I slowly approached at the back of the large crowd of refugees. "What do you think this 'assembly' will be about?" I heard one of the refugee whispered to his friends. "I don't know, man... I guess we have to see what the Captain says." One of his friends answered, pointing at the soldier in front of the squad.

"Calm down, everybody! Please, I need all of you to calm down!" The Captain raised his hands, gesturing everyone to stand back and calm down. Everyone immediately fell silent as we listened to what the Captain is trying to say next. "As all of you may know about the bombs that were dropped on the city last night-" "Know it? We fucking saw it!" Yelled one of the refugees, interrupting the Captain. "Those bastards are gonna pay for what they did to us!" Yelled another, followed by the shouts of agreement from other refugees. "Everyone, calm down!" The Captain tried his best to regain control of the crowd. The crowd was finally complacent and immediately fell silent again... "We... have just heard on the radio waves that the President has declared an all-out War..." The crowd immediately gasped in shock and horror, excluding me... To me, it felt like they're just making it official... "Please calm down and listen... We tried waiting for all of you but now there's no more time left, we need to evacuate immediately to Beautopia..." Martin suddenly came forward from the crowd and exclaimed, "Some of us still needs medical attention, goddamn it! My wife will die if she doesn't get any medical attention immediately!" "I'm sorry but now there's not much time left for a full evacuation... We have to leave the sick and disabled behind..." My heart sank and Martin's face was full of dread as he slowly backed away from the Captain and left the crowd entirely. But... what... what about Hannah? Damn it! The Captain continued, "Firstly, we will evacuate all the able women and the children and then-"

"Some of us paid for the passes to get into Beautopia! They should also go first with the women and children!" A blonde young man yelled angrily, interrupting the Captain yet again. The Captain glared at the young man before finally saying, "Frankly, 'sir'... I don't give a bloody fuck whether or not you paid for it... The women and children WILL-" "You can't fucking do this to us, you fucking assholes! You can't just leave us behind!" Another young man from the crowd yelled at the Captain before suddenly lunging forward at him. The Captain tried to take out his handgun but he was already too late as the young man intercepted his hand. They were both struggling right before us! Other refugees, mostly young men, immediately came forward and assisted the refugee by tackling and fighting with the other soldiers. Oh God, the situation is getting pretty messed up... We're fighting against each other now... I need to do something quick before it gets even worse...

Without thinking, I came forward from the crowd and tried to stop this thing. "CALM DOWN, EVERYONE! CALM DOWN!" My voice did nothing to stem the battles before me. I went forward and tried to pull the young man away from the Captain... The young man quickly turned to me, his eyes blazing with anger and desperation, before immediately punching me right in the jaw. I helplessly landed on the ground as the whole world started to shake before my eyes. I could see the young man slowly turning around and... A loud gunshot echoed throughout the compound... The young man's body dropped to the ground lifelessly revealing the Captain standing before him, bearing his handgun. "BACK THE FUCK UP!" He yelled as he started to aim towards the other refugees, whom were slowly backing away with their arms raised into the air, leaving the rest of the squad alone. "Oh my God! You bastards fucking murdered him!" A shout coming from the crowd. "I am trying to save lives over here! All of you are just wasting what's remaining of our precious time!" The crowd was motionless as everyone fell silent. The Captain started to aim the handgun to and fro, hoping to prevent anyone from attacking him again. But I think they already got the message...

"Louis!" I heard Henry's voice in the distance as I saw him quickly running towards me from the hospital with Martin. "Back away from me!" The Captain yelled as he pointed the gun to Henry. "I am your commanding officer, Captain! You will stand down or I will fucking court martial you for killing an innocent civilian!" Henry yelled at the Captain, pointing some kind of badge at him, as Martin helped me up from the ground. "Are you alright, son?" Martin whispered to me. "I'm... fine..." I replied weakly. "Aargh!" The soldier grunted loudly in frustration before he dropped the handgun to the ground to which Henry quickly picked it up. "Fine! Have it your way then! I'm fucking quitting the military!" The Captain yelled as he took his helmet off and threw it to the ground before promptly kicking it away. "I had it with this place... I'm leaving..." The Captain climbed into the APC and started the engine. The rest of his squad took off their helmets and also threw it to the ground before joining their Captain on the APC. "Henry... We can't just-" "Let them go, Louis... We have no choice either way..." Henry whispered to me in a hushed tone. Martin nodded at Henry and proceeded to open the metal gate of the hospital compound. The APC drove out of the courtyard and down the hill before quickly disappearing from our sight. I cannot believe it... The military had just left us for dead...

The refugees began to panic as they scatter about in the courtyard. Some of the hospital staff were coming outside to see what was all the noise about. They have no idea... Martin immediately set off to work in calming them all down. "Now what do we do, Henry?" I asked him who seemed thoughtful as he stared into the military trucks. He immediately turned around without saying a word. He approached a nearby box and stood over it. "Everyone! I need everyone's attention!" With Martin's assistance, Henry eventually managed to get the refugees attention. "Does anyone here know the way to Beautopia?" "I know the way..." "Yeah, me too!" One and then two and then more hands were raised up from the crowd. "Okay, next... I need people who can drive a military truck. It's not that different than a normal truck... Just raise your hand if anyone here knows how to drive a truck!" A long pause from the crowd ensues as they began to whisper to each other. "I used to be a delivery guy!" A man suddenly cried out as he raised his hand upwards. And then, a few hands were raised from the crowd. Out of excitement, Henry actually fist pumped into the air.

"Alright, everyone... We're going to drive ourselves all the way to Beautopia!" Henry exclaimed excitedly with a grin, much to the surprised gasps of the refugees. "Those that knows how to drive the trucks will be led by those that knows the way to Beautopia as we drive there ourselves. It's as simple as that!" "But what about the sick? We can't just let them leave this place without their medication or they will die." Martin chimed in, Henry's grin quickly disappeared as he immediately fell silent... A long silence erupted from the refugees as everyone knew what it meant. Martin nodded understandingly before he wiped away his watering eyes. I just stood there motionless as the thought of Hannah is literally tearing the insides of my mind... Is... Is she going to be left behind? Henry gently placed his hand on Martin's shoulder before whispering, "I'm sorry, Martin... but I don't see anyway we could... I'm sorry..." "I know, Henry... I know... I just wished there was a way, you know..." Martin muttered before walking away all by his lonesome self. He needed some time to be alone... Henry glanced at me, seemingly knowing that I was thinking about Hannah, before he finally stepped forward against the crowd of refugees.

"Bring what is only needed, okay? Do not bring too many food and water... There's plenty of that at Beautopia. We're going to stuff these trucks to the brim, do you understand me? We have already wasted enough time so let's do this, people!" As soon as Henry finished, the refugees immediately began setting off as they gather their things before rushing over to the trucks. Henry was leading them into the trucks and keeping everything organized. They might make it after all... What in the-? I noticed some of the refugees were acting a bit strange. They were barely doing anything as they just stood there with a sad and desperate look on their faces. "Their loved ones can't leave the hospital or they will die..." Martin's voice suddenly came from behind me. I didn't even notice that he was standing right behind me. He continued, "They have decided to stay with them... until the end..." Martin said softly. "I'm sorry, Martin... I don't know what else to say but... I'm sorry..." I said before I swallowed my throat as I felt a sudden uneasy feeling inside me. "Why are you sorry? It's not like you caused the War, am I right?" Martin stifled a weak chuckle as I stood there in silence. "Excuse me, Louis... I have to get my people out of here now..." Martin whispered softly before he approached the camp and towards the refugees, leaving me alone. As I stood there watching the people as they quicken their pace before Henry and Martin loaded them up into the trucks. A part of me wanted everything to slow down... Everything's happening so fast... I wanted it to slow down... Just a little bit... Just enough time for Hannah to be fine again... So we could leave this place together... I'm NOT going to leave her behind... No matter what...

"Okay, I wish you all the best of luck!"

Henry waved at one of the trucks, loaded with as much people it could carry, as it was leaving the courtyard before driving down the hill and into the horizon as they head for Beautopia. "Do you think they're going to make it?" I asked Henry as I finally lost sight of the truck. "I have no idea, Louis... We just have to hope for the best... For all of them..." "And have you seen Martin, by the way?" I inquired him as we were both slowly walking towards the other trucks which were being loaded up by another group of refugees as we speak. "No, he just needs some time alone, that's all." He simply shrugged it off. "And what about Hannah? We already left so many people behind... We can't just leave her." I exclaimed worryingly. "Don't worry about her, Louis. I have a plan that will make sure you and Hannah and your child will get to safety." Henry whispered to me before he smiled at me. My eyes immediately lit up in disbelief. "Really? What's the plan?" Henry quickly pulled me as far away from the crowd as he could before he finally spoke to me in a hushed tone, "I had a hover copter that's on the way here as we speak. It will come pick us up and take us all the way into the safety of Beautopia."

My smile quickly disappeared... "So we're just going to leave all of the patients behind? Just like that? Is there really nothing else we can do for them? What about Martin and his wife? Are you telling me we're just going to leave them behind too?" Henry snapped back at me, "I'm already evacuating the refugees as best as I could! But there's just not enough space and time for the rest of the patients... We may not be able to save everyone but at least, we were able to save someone." I... I don't know what to say... "Remember what I said earlier, Louis... About the willingness to protect my own family rather than another... It's either them or Hannah, Louis..." Henry whispered to me in a grim tone as he stared seriously to me. Henry immediately left me behind as he walked back to the trucks. I don't know what to think as I stood there motionless, the uneasy feeling inside me slowly growing slightly worse... And the horrible part is I might have to agree with Henry in this... I'll do anything for Hannah... But for leaving some of the people behind, I hated myself for doing so... But I... I have no choice... It's not the first time I did it...

As the last truck was almost loaded up with the refugees and what's remaining of the hospital staff that didn't volunteer to stay behind, everyone was making their fond final farewells with each other. I stood there in silence, staring at them as they're preparing to leave. I was pretty useless as I didn't helped anyone like Henry or Martin did... I was about to walk away in shame before I suddenly heard a distant shouting from somewhere behind me. "You! You! The guy with the black shirt!" I turned around to see the female doctor that I pushed aside from before. She was sprinting directly at me with all of her strength. "You're... You're the patient's husband, am I right?" She quickly asked me, panting for air and trying to regain her breath. "Yeah, I'm sorry about earlier..." I said in an apologetic manner as I scratched the back of my head. "That doesn't matter anymore... I need to tell you something important... It's about your wife!"

"My... My wife? What's wrong with my wife?" My heart dropped down to an all time low. The woman finally regained her breath before she looked directly at me and shouted, "She's... She's giving birth! Right now!" "What?" "She wants to see you. You have to go to her!" The doctor exclaimed before she rushed back towards the emergency department of the hospital. I glanced at Henry, who stared at me grimly, before I quickly followed the doctor to Hannah. We rushed past the hallways which were mostly empty by now until we finally reached the emergency room where Hannah is. The uneasy feeling inside me grew more and more as I went past the door. The doctor gestured me to come closer as she opened the door which leads to Hannah. I quickly entered through and saw two doctors from before doing their jobs and Hannah grunting and moaning loudly in pain. One of the doctors looked up at me and yelled, "Calm her down! She's getting too weak!" The female doctor from behind pushed me closer to Hannah's side. I slowly approached her and promptly knelt down beside her, gently grabbing her hand as I whispered, "Hannah... I'm here, Hannah... I'm here..."

"Louis... You finally came... What took... you so freaking long, huh?" She stifled a weak smile, her hazel eyes seemed weary and her once fair skin were pale, before she suddenly gritted her teeth in pain. "Don't- Don't talk too much... You need to save your strength..." I whispered to her as I tried to look away at what the doctors were doing and keeping my eyes solely on Hannah. "I'm so tired... I think I-" She suddenly grunted in pain before she could finish. "Don't say things like that... You and I... We're going to make it... We're going to make it through all of this. And we'll be together. Just- Just like our plan, remember?" I stuttered the words, unsure of what to even say that could help her ease the pain. "You still... remembered that stupid plan we made? I thought... with your horrible memory..." She wearily smiled at me, her blonde hair was tangled up and partially covering her face. "Of course, I still remember it... I remember how we were going to buy the perfect home up on the hills and how we're going to have four perfect children..." I stifled a smile as I gently moved the strands of her hair away from her tired face.

"How... we're going to raise them... fairly and lovingly..." She continued as she kept looking directly into my eyes. "Well, you'll probably be the one who do most of the raising..." I said sarcastically as tears slowly began to fill up in my eyes. Hannah stifled a weak chuckle before she suddenly gritted her teeth out of sheer pain, tightening her grip around my hand. I... I don't know what to do! I feel so fucking useless! "And then, when the children are all grown up... We'll move out of our house- and then we would live the rest of our lives at the French countryside..." She finished softly. "It's where you always wanted to go, right?" I silently exclaimed as I gently caressed her face. "A little cottage on the countryside... just for the both of us..." Hannah said weakly.

"The baby's coming! The baby's coming!" One of the doctors suddenly yelled loudly, my eyes immediately lit up with shock. "Okay... Push! Take a deep breath and push!" My heart was practically skipping nonsensically, unsure of what to do or what to think. "One more time... Breathe and push!" The doctor continued to instruct Hannah as she moaned loudly in pain, clutching my hand tighter and tighter. "I think I can see the head! Just- Just one more push!" The doctor ordered. Hannah made one final yelp of pain before everything fell silent... "It's... It's a boy! It's a boy!" The doctor finally cried out, much to my sheer relief. "Did you hear that, Hannah? It's a boy! Heh... I guess you were right, after all..." I exclaimed softly with a stifled grin on my face. Hannah was laughing weakly but happily before whispering, "Finn... His name's Finn then..."

"The baby's too weak! We need to get him to the incubator, ASAP!" I heard the doctor cried out in panic before immediately rushing out of the room. "...What?" Hannah asked weakly in a worried tone. I quickly turned towards her and whispered quietly, "Don't- Don't worry about it... Everything's going to be alright, Hannah... The baby's going to be fine, just don't worry about it..." I tried to reassure her as best as I could. "And you're going to be fine too, Hannah. You'll see... Please, I need you... to be okay, Hannah..." I softly smiled at her, the uneasy feeling inside me strangely returned. "Oh God- I love... I love you, Louis... but you're... such a terrible liar..." Hannah smiled meekly at me, her hazel eyes gazing directly into mine, before she finally let out a weak sigh. "...Hannah?"

The whole world around me fell silent yet again as the uneasy feeling inside my heart finally overwhelmed me. "...Hannah? Hannah?!" She wasn't moving... The light from her starry eyes were gone... Her smile was gone... "We've got a problem here! I need help over here!" I heard the female doctor's voice slowly becoming distant from behind me as I saw her rushing to Hannah's bedside. The doctor was trying to save Hannah... But everything seemed to slow down around me as the world surrounding me slowly grew darker and darker into nothingness... Until the only thing I could see was her expressionless face... "Oh God- Oh God, please... No, No, No, No... NO! NO! Hannah! Hannah... Please..." I just sat there crying, full of misery and dread... The tears of emptiness did nothing to stem the pain inside me... I was furious, blaming myself for everything... It's my fault! I shouldn't have never let you go... I could have- I could have done something. Anything! My body finally felt numb as I couldn't control any of my emotions anymore... I simply gave up as I lifelessly dropped onto my knees next to her... Still clutching into her warm hand... I don't want to let go... I don't want to let go...

"Hannah... Please... Please don't leave me... Alone..."


	9. Hope for the Future

Before the Mushroom War

Hope for the Future

"Hannah… Please... Please don't leave me alone…"

The whole room was completely dark and entirely engulfed by the deafening silence… My eyes were closed as tightly as possible; trying to deny the truth, trying to tell my aching head that this was all a lie as my hands kept shaking uncontrollably, unknowingly gripping the little white hat with short nubs. I don't know how long I have been in here… I didn't care. Time felt like a distant memory to me now… I just sat there in the middle of the dark room, staring at the cold floor under me and... just thinking to myself, surrounded by complete and total darkness. I'm sorry, Hannah, but I know what I have to do now... "Louis?" Henry's voice broke the deafening silence as a door slowly creaked open behind me, letting in a sliver of light into the dark room. My head felt a numbing pain as I slowly opened my sore eyes. "Louis... You've been inside here for a long time already…" His voice grew closer to me. "The last truck is already long gone and the Hover Copter has just arrived. It's time for us to leave…" "…What did the- What did the doctors say about him?" I asked him, ignoring what he just said, before desperately coughing and almost losing my breath entirely. Oh God, I'm struggling to even breathe now... "…Louis, don't-"

"Henry! Please… I need to know…" I snapped back at him before he could say anything else. Henry let out a deep sigh before finally answering, "The baby's not fully developed yet… His muscles are too weak and fragile… The heart is working too slow… He can't even breathe on his own without the necessary assistance…" He hesitantly explained to me as I slowly closed my eyes again. "Seeing as there's no other choice... The doctors were forced... to implant mechanical augmentations to save the baby's life." "So… Are you saying that my son is partially a machine?" "…Yeah." He answered bluntly. "...Which part of him?" "Come on, Louis… You don't really need to know all about that..." Henry tried to reassure me but I was having none of it. "Henry, please… I need to know… I need to know more about my son..." Henry let out another sigh before continuing, "Uh… I'm not exactly sure but the doctor said that… Most of his muscles throughout the body were too weak and underdeveloped… so they had to implant micro-fiber cables and a framework of hardened polymers into the joints and muscles of his arms and legs… so it would strengthen the limbs and prevent it from being easily damaged." Henry slowly paced around the room as he was seemingly reading from a script or something...

"The heart was too slow to support the baby properly… So…They had to install a system into the heart that tracks the medical condition of the baby and activates all these kinds of secondary functions that triggers the body's natural healing reaction." I simply nodded as I tighten my grip around the white hat. "Is… Is that all?" "No… Not really... This is the last one…" He said before I heard a page turning behind me. "The baby's lungs are… underdeveloped to the point he couldn't breathe on his own… So…They had to implant a compact rebreather and an oxygen circulation unit on his lungs which basically adds another reservoir of oxygen into the baby's bloodstream… It also allows the boy to... eventually surpass the normal limits of fatigue associated from extended physical efforts... But the baby still needs the incubator to breathe normally until he finally grows accustomed to his augmentations or he will… Well, that doesn't matter anymore…" Henry finished before I suddenly heard the sound of a clipboard or something dropping on the table behind me.

"There… That's practically all of it…" Henry added before he came closer to me. "So... he will be okay, right?" I whispered weakly. "These augmentations will grow alongside him... and his body has been accepting the augments very well so far. So... Yes... The boy will be just fine, Louis... In a matter of fact, he would be much stronger than a normal person when he grows up..." Henry reassured me as he knelt down beside me. I slowly raised my head from the ground and looked forward to see the incubator pod, with all of its modules and electrical machinery, right in front of me. And through the looking glass lies an innocent baby, a long and slender ventilation tube protruding directly from his chest. The baby- I mean... Finn seemed so peaceful as he slumbers away, without a single clue about the world or what's in it...

"Listen, Louis... I'm sorry... about Hannah... and everything..." Henry whispered softly to me as he gently placed his hand on my shoulder. "But you need to understand that we have to leave right now... We can't stay in this place any longer..." I hesitantly nodded to Henry before muttering under my breath, "Okay, Henry... You're right... We have to go..." Henry nodded in agreement before he slowly stood back up, "I'll leave you a few moments to regain your uh... bearings... I'll be waiting on the office room which is just a few doors down right across the hallway, okay?" And with that, Henry slowly went back out through the door and left me all alone again. Alone in the darkness...

I slowly forced by weary body to get up from the chair I was sitting from as I kept my eyes solely on the young baby. My body could barely stand as it is, as I shambled closer to the incubator pod before me. I gently pressed my hand against the glass as I smiled weakly, gazing into the peaceful baby which is sleeping the empty hours away. "Aren't you cold, Finn? Aren't you afraid? An innocent child to be born... into a chaotic world at the eve of War... To simply be born at the wrong time..." I whispered to the unresponsive baby, who did nothing but simply stretched his tiny arms outwards. Innocent... "I'm sorry, Finn. but you're not suppose to be here right now... " I muttered to myself before I carefully slid open the glass entryway which leads directly into the incubator pod. "Here... I wanted to give something to you, Finn... It's from your mother actually... You can consider it as your first- birthday gift from your parents..." I said weakly as I gently placed the little white hat besides Finn, to which he immediately clutches to it like it was some kind of doll or something. A slight smile crossed his face as he continues to sleep peacefully. I couldn't help but let out a tiring sigh as I promptly closed the glass entryway and smiled weakly at him, "Okay, Finn... It's time for us to leave now..."

"I'm sorry, Mother... I'm sorry for everything..."

I was pushing the wheeled cart which was carrying the incubator pod as I slowly approached the double doorway of the 'Neonatal Intensive Care Unit' as it says on the sign above the door. This place is practically abandoned now with me being the only one here... There were rows and rows of different incubator pods but... All the other pods were either empty or...abandoned... I quickly pushed past the doorway and dragged the cart through it. The clear white hallways were all but empty as I slowly went through it, searching for Henry. It was kind of creepy actually as I was walking in the abandoned hallways of the hospital. It kind of reminded me about all those cliched horror movies that I used to watch back in the day with... "No... No... This can't be happening..." I heard Henry's voice in the distance behind an open doorway.

As I slowly approached it, I heard Henry's voice grew more and more worrisome. Fearing for the worst, I quicken the pace. When I finally arrived at the edge of the door alongside the cart, I peered inside and saw a small office room with a desk and the holographic computer interface above it and... whatever else that should be in an office... I don't really care... I guess this office used to be for a doctor or someone important. I saw Henry was hunched over the holographic computer interface, wearing some kind of modern headphones, as his full attention was turned towards the computer interface. What in the world is he doing? "Henry!" I called out for him. As soon as he saw me at the doorway, he quickly raised his hand gesturing me to hold on and wait. Really? You ask me to hurry up and now you're asking me to wait? Are you kidding me, Henry? Seeing as there's really no choice but to wait after all, I quickly shrugged it off and leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes tightly, as I wait for Mr. Important to finish updating his Facebook profile...

Hmm? My eyebrows almost lit up with shock when I suddenly felt someone pulling down on my leg. I was immediately surprised by this as I quickly opened my eyes and looked downwards, only to see a little girl right beside my leg. The blonde-haired little girl was wearing a polka-dotted dark indigo dress as her jaded green eyes stared hesitantly at me, it was like she was scared to approach me or something. She seemed like she was barely two years old or something... "Are... Are you trying to talk with... papa?" She whispered meekly to me. Papa? Does she mean Henry? Wait... Don't tell me... The girl is Henry's daughter? "Yes... He's a friend of mine..." I replied weakly to her as I gently knelt down in front of her. She nodded at me before she silently gazed at Henry, whom was still infatuated with the bloody computer.

"What's... your name? Henry never told me anything about you..." I said trying to break the silence between us as we waited for Henry. "My... name?" She said meekly before I slowly nodded back at her in agreement. "Uh... Um... My name is... Su- San..." "Well Susan, it's nice... to finally meet you." She smiled at me before she suddenly seemed surprised at something behind me. She went past me before slowly approaching the cart and the incubator pod. "Is... he sick? Will... he be... okay?" She asked me as she pointed directly at Finn, who was still slumbering away. I slowly stood back up and approached her side before I gently pressed my hand against the glass of the incubator pod. "He'll be just fine... All of this... it's just temporary, Susan..."

"Are you afraid?" She suddenly asked me. I raised my eyebrows in confusion, "Afraid of what?" "This War... Are you afraid that everyone... is going to die?" I was quite surprised by her question, given her apparent age, as she stared seriously at me. I smiled comfortingly at her before I answered, "There's nothing to be afraid of, Susan. Henry- Your father will get us all to safety... You'll see..." She nodded in an agreeing manner at me before she looked back at Finn. "And he will be healthy again and not be sick anymore... and then, he will finally grow up to be a strong boy... You'll see..." I stifled a weak chuckle as Susan smiled sweetly at me. "I guess you're right, Susan..."

"Louis! They're preparing to launch the bombs!" My heart immediately sank as I heard Henry's desperate shouts from the office before he suddenly burst out of the doorway with a scared look on his face. And when he saw Susan standing right beside me, he immediately bit his tongue. "Susan! Why are you here, baby? I thought I told you to stay at the Hover Copter!" "I wanted to... make sure papa is safe!" Susan snapped back at him. "Susan... That's very brave of you... but you have to listen to me..." He said softly as he knelt down in front of her. "So... the bombs are coming to kill everyone..." She muttered with an emotionless look on her face. "I won't let any of that happen, Susan... I'm not going to let you die..." Henry reassured her as he embraced his daughter. She smiled slightly, "Really?" She said with a hopeful look on her jaded eyes. "Really... But I need you to be strong right now... Can you do that... for me, Susan?" She nodded at him before she smiled proudly, "I can be strong!" "That's my girl!" He stifled a proud smile before he stood back up, shooting me a worried look. I stood there stunned as a numbing sensation coursed throughout my body. So it's already happening...

"You're the closest thing I could consider a good friend, Simon... My best friend."

"We have to go! Now!" He yelled at me before he immediately helped me push the cart towards the direction of a nearby elevator at the end of the hallway. But even with the help of someone such as Henry, we were still slowly but carefully pushing the cart towards the elevator. "Susan, run forward and wait for us at the elevator!" Henry ordered her, knowing that we would only slow her down. Susan nodded at him before she immediately ran forward to the elevator. She was already leaving us further and further behind. "What's going? What did you do in there?" I asked him, knowing that Susan couldn't possibly hear us. "I've been trying to get a signal using the computer. To get a better understanding of the situation right now..." "And what did you find out?" I asked him, slightly exasperated. "It's not good, Louis... It's not good... Everything's gone to hell... They just outright announced to us that they're fighting back and preparing to launch all the available bombs. The last thing those fuckers said was good luck to those that did not make it to a bunker... Just like that..." Henry explained angrily as we quicken our pace with the cart. "I think I'm quitting the military too..." He whispered spitefully to me.

Within seconds, it wasn't long before we finally reached the elevator. Susan was already there, madly tapping at the elevator button. "It's... It's not moving!" She called out to us in a worried tone. "Okay! Forget the elevators!" Henry exclaimed as he quickly approached the nearby emergency door. He forcefully kicked it open revealing a set of stairs leading through the different floors of the hospital. "What about Finn? We can't just drag him up the stairs." I told him as I pointed towards the incubator pod. "Ah... We'll just carry him with us!" He shouted desperately at me as he quickly approached one side of the incubator pod. "Susan... Please run up the stairs until you reached the roof and just wait for us there, okay?" He said softly to Susan. "Okay... Don't take too long... or I'll... come down and help you carry him myself!" She exclaimed with determination before she immediately started climbing up the staircase. "Well, I could tell she is really your daughter, Henry..." I said weakly, stifling a meek smile.

"Well, She got most of that from her mother, to be honest..." He said jokingly before he immediately grabbed onto the emergency handles at the sides of the incubator pod. "Come on, Louis... Grab the other one..." I nodded at him before I immediately grabbed onto the emergency handles on the other side of the incubator pod. "Okay... Lift with your back... Take a deep breath aaaaaaaannnddd..." Together, we heaved the incubator pod upwards and carefully make our way up the stairs. "Aargh! This thing is much... much heavier than I expected..." Henry exclaimed as we continued to climb higher and higher towards the roof. "Come on... Put your back at it, Henry! You're the military man!" I snapped at him as I struggled to carry the pod myself. I'm amazed that the baby is still asleep after hearing the wonderful collection of grunts from us both... I guess he got a little bit of that from me... "I'm...going to... remember that later, Louis..." Henry muttered jokingly at me as we slowly but carefully head towards the rooftop...

"It's a promise, Marceline... We'll see each other again."

"We're almost there!" Henry shouted out of pure relief. A streak of bright sunlight from upstairs signaled the emergency door of the roof was very close indeed. As we climbed the last set of stairs, I saw Susan was standing against the door, dutifully keeping it open for us with her arms. "There you are!" She exclaimed happily at the sight of us slowly climbing up the stairs. "I kept it open, papa! All by myself!" She said, clearly proud of herself. "That's wonderful... Susan..." Henry grunted as we went through the emergency door and into the open rooftop. I could see the bright orange-red Hover Copter sitting alone at the landing pad of the hospital. I wondered where all the other hospital's choppers are... "Come on... Come on!" Henry kept repeating to himself as we urgently made our way towards the Hover Copter. "Okay, okay, careful now... Gently put it down..." Henry said, slightly exasperated, as we carefully placed the incubator pod on the ground next to the Hover Copter. "Is he... fine?" Susan inquired about Finn as a worried look cross her face. "Don't worry. He's... perfectly alright..." I reassured her as Henry opened the pilot door of the Hover Copter. A familiar bright blue holographic sphere suddenly emerged from the Hover Copter. "Good to see you again, sir."

"Jerry! I thought you were decommissioned!" I exclaimed, pleasantly surprised at the sight of my old lab assistant. "I kept him behind thinking that he would be useful later. And I was right in the end... The Hover Copter and Susan wouldn't even be here without his help." Henry explained to me as he helped Susan climbed into the pilot door and towards the passenger seat. "Yes... You have my heart felt thanks, Colonel Henry." The sphere quickly darted to and fro in the air before its only eye finally looked at me. "Ah! Louis! Shame about all this terrible War business, isn't it? How I wish Atlas was still here... That would certainly make everything much easier." "Yeah, well... Let's not discuss about that matter further, shall we?" I said weakly.

"Jerry! I need you to be quiet and install yourself into the incubator pod. I want you to take care of the baby and always make sure that he is safe. Do you understand me?" Henry ordered Jerry, immediately interrupting him from speaking to me. "As you wish, sir." The blue sphere immediately dissipated into the air and was gone from my sight. I noticed that the blue sphere was already inside the monitors of the incubator pod as it lit up with the image of Jerry. "The baby appears to be in optimal conditions, sir. And might I say congratulations on your new member of the family, sir! How is dear Hannah anyway? It's been a while since I met her..." I immediately fell silent as I simply stood there motionless, not a single feeling inside me.

"Jerry! What part of being quiet do you not understand?" Henry yelled at Jerry as he quickly opened the door of the passenger seats at the back of the Hover Copter. "...Understood. Terribly sorry, sir..." Jerry immediately fell deathly silent as he finally complied with Henry's orders. "Okay... Help me get him onto the back." Henry beckoned me as we both grabbed the emergency handles of the incubator pod before we made one final heave upwards until it was safely in the back of the Hover Copter. Henry quickly grabbed the safety latches dangling on the ceiling and promptly latch it onto the emergency handles as firmly as possible. "There! He's all secure and safe!" Henry exclaimed happily as he dropped back down onto the ground and closed the door behind him. "Alright! Let's get out of here!" Henry said excitedly as he moved closer to the pilot's seat. "Louis?" I looked up at him as he was halfway climbing into the pilot's seat. "What are you doing, man? You can get through the other side. Come on, let's go already!"

"I'm not going, Henry... I'm not leaving with you..."

"...What?" He exclaimed out of shock as he immediately dropped back down onto the ground. "What- What the hell are you talking about, Louis?"

"I- I can't leave her, Henry..."

"Are you fucking crazy?! You can't just throw away your life like that! For God's sake, what about your bloody son?" Henry yelled angrily at me as I saw Susan peering outside with a confused look on her face.

"My son is the only thing I have left in this world, Henry... All of my friends and my whole family are probably dead now. Without Hannah- The only thing left that I want to protect is my son... And I know that he's safe now... In the end, that's all that really matters to me."

"No, you dumbass! I won't let you be an idiot and just throw your life away like this! Damn it, Louis! What will Hannah think? What about your goddamn son? You can't just die on me now and leave him alone, you fucking moron!"

"Hannah's dead, Henry... And my son... I know now that he's safe but he doesn't deserve someone like me as his father. After all I done... It's just- I- I can't leave Hannah alone..." I could feel my hands shaking uncontrollably as I just looked at him in his eyes, into his desperate and frustrated eyes...

"For God's sake, Louis, why? ...Why?" I could tell- I knew that even if he doesn't want to admit it or accept it, he understood that he couldn't change my mind. And it's making him completely frustrated and defeated.

"I need to ask you of another favor, Henry..." I exclaimed as I took out a piece of paper from my pocket and handed it to Henry. "What- What's this?" He said as he confusingly took it from my grasp. "It's the VIP pass for Beautopia... The one you gave me at my house... I want you to get your daughter to safety instead... I just wanted to ask you if you could bring Finn along with you..." I smiled weakly at him. He let out a defeated sigh as he clasped onto his forehead tightly, "I- I won't be able to change your mind, can I?" I stifled a smile at him as I slowly shook my head...

"So... this is it then. You expect me to fly away knowing that I just left my friend behind to die?" For what's probably the first time in my life, I could actually see his eyes were watering. "I'm sorry, Henry..." I said as I slowly raised my hand towards him. "Goodbye, Henry. And thank you... For everything..." Henry suddenly pulled my hand closer and to my shock, he- he immediately hugged me tightly. I guess there is a soft side to him, after all... "You're an idiot, you know that, Louis... But- But I guess I was wrong about you after all..." He whispered to me before he finally let go of me and slowly backed away towards the Copter, leaving me behind...

"Goodbye, Susan! It was nice meeting you!" I called out to her as Henry was already climbing back into the pilot's seat. "Goodbye, mister!" Susan smiled meekly as she waved at me from the Hover Copter. "Goodbye, Louis... Be sure to save me a spot up there, won't you? I'll be joining you once I'm done here..." Henry smiled sadly at me as he gently caressed Susan's blonde hair. "I will, Henry... Maybe we could have a drink together or something..." I grinned weakly at him. Henry nodded at me before he closed the door right behind him and immediately turned on the engine of the Copter. Without a single moment of hesitation, I slowly backed away as the gyros of the Hover Copter started to spin. Within seconds, the Hover Copter immediately rose up from the ground until it was hovering on the air, hence the namesake... I saw Henry at the pilot's seat, giving me a honorary salute of sorts, before he immediately flew off into the distance. It wasn't long before I couldn't even see him in the nearby cloud-kissed skies anymore. He's gone now... My last chance of escaping was gone... And I feel nothing... I breathe a tiring sigh as I slowly walked back to the emergency door and went back downstairs...

"Papa..."

"Yes, Susan?" Henry had his full attention turned towards flying the Hover Copter as his daughter was sitting neatly at his side. "I thought we were going to the ARK?" She asked her father, sounding very much confused. "Oh, that... We're having a little change of plans, dearie. We're going to try our chances at Beautopia instead." He explained to her as he slightly glanced at the VIP passes in his pocket, given to him by an unexpected friend. "Really?!" She exclaimed excitedly, almost jumping in her seat. "I always wanted to go to Beautopia instead! I never liked the ARK, papa! It's just too cold and dark... And those robots are just so scary..."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that, Susan. But if you don't mind, we're making a quick stop to the ARK before we head towards Beautopia." He said as he already began preparations into landing the Hover Copter. "...Why?" A curious look cross the little girl's face. Henry glanced at the incubator pod behind him, which holds his friend's only hopes for the future, before he finally answered, "A favor for an old friend... I need to make sure his future is completely safe from any harm. It's the least I can do for him..." Susan followed her father's gaze as she stared at the incubator pod, which lies neatly and safely at the back of the Hover Copter, before she finally understood what her father meant. "Okay, papa... I understand... I don't mind at all..." She said softly. Henry nodded proudly at her and was slowly landing the Hover Copter before a sudden interruption distracted him. "Anyone... To anyone on this frequency..." The radio suddenly blared out with a blurred voice speaking nonsensical words. Confused, Henry decided to let it continue...

"To anyone... on this frequency, I have... finally received the news... The bombs have been launched!I repeat... have been launched! The satellites... aligning! They... retaliating! I repeat... are finally retaliating! Hell... on Earth! Fire w... rain down on everyone! Hour of Salvation! Repent! Repent... all your sins, my children! Run... your lives! Run for... fucking lives! Save... Yourself! Just save... but yourself... God... be with us all..." The radio immediately cuts off with a deathly silence.

"What was he talking about, papa?" Susan asked her father in a worried tone as she couldn't understand what the radio was saying, but her father did not reply to her as he immediately fell silent. As soon as the Hover Copter finally landed onto the ground, Henry quickly opened the door and jumped out onto the ground. "Stay in there and don't move!" Henry urgently ordered Susan as he rushed to open the passenger doors at the back of the Hover Copter. The incubator pod was still there unmoved and unaffected by the chopper ride. Henry quickly climbed up and started unlatching all of the safety latches before he tightly grabbed both of the emergency handles. Without any form of help, Henry struggled to carry the incubator pod as it was heavier than ever but he managed to muster all his strength to lift it out of the Hover Copter. Henry grunted in pain as he struggled to carry the incubator pod across the grass field towards a nearby stone wall.

"Jerry! Listen to me! Listen to me! I need you to take care of the baby! I don't care how long it takes or whatever the hell you have to do, I want you to just make sure that he survives at all costs!" Henry loudly ordered the Virtual Intelligence as a part of the stone wall suddenly slid downwards into the ground, revealing nothing but darkness inside. "...Understood, sir! I will try my very best! You can consider it already done!" The blue sphere in the incubator pod exclaimed confidently. Henry entered the darkness without a moment's hesitation before a flash of bright light suddenly emerged from the darkness within. A distant voice could be heard after the flash of light, "Welcome to the ARK, Colonel Henry."

After a short while, Henry himself emerged from the darkness empty-handed and struggling to just stand straight. As he was slowly making his way back to the Hover Copter, a sudden scream of horror echoed throughout the mountains. "Oh my goodcuss!" Susan cried out loudly in a scared tone as she gazed upwards into the sky, her face full of dread and fear. Henry whom was already climbing back into the pilot's seat of the Hover Copter followed his daughter's gaze and immediately witnessed the horrifying sight of enormous columns of black smoke slowly trailing into the sky, "My God... It's finally happening..."

"I- I'll promise you will see me again... One day, somewhere in the future..."

My hands were gently pressed at one of the windows of the hospital as I gazed forward and witnessed tall columns of black smoke trailing into the sky over at the horizon. So... There it is then... I can only hoped that Henry already arrived at Beautopia with Susan and Finn. Well, those Hover Copters are known to be pretty fast... so I guess I have nothing to worry about... I proceeded to shamble my way across the empty hallways towards her... As I traveled my way across the hallways, I happen to notice many things. The very first thing I saw was a group of three doctors lounging about in the hallway, laughing and drinking... I recognized one of the doctors as the one who was operating on Hannah... And I think he recognized me too when he turned his head and saw me walking along the hall.

He immediately walked towards me carrying two glasses filled with the whiskey he and his friends were enjoying themselves with. Without saying a word, he immediately offered it to me as soon as I had arrived, a look of understanding and a desire for forgiveness in his eyes... I simply smiled weakly at him and gave him an understanding nod as I gently grabbed the glass from his hand. "To the end of the world, my friend!" The doctor proceeded to cheer as he raised his glass upwards into the air. "WOOHOO!" His friends cheered alongside him before they immediately gulped their own glasses down. I too couldn't help but join them as I quickly drank the glass empty, feeling the stinging warmth of the whiskey going down my coarse throat. It was a brief bliss, at least... The doctor gave me a friendly smile as he patted me on my shoulders before he and his friends slowly walked away and left me all alone in the hallway, slightly saddened by the fact that their bottle was finished. With no one else around the hallway, I continued my walk through the lifeless hallway...

At one of the many doors I walked past, I was surprised to see Martin. He didn't leave with the trucks? I had thought that he already evacuated... Martin was sitting down next to a bed ridden African-American old woman. She must be his wife... Her eyes were closed with all kinds of medical machinery strapped to her and she was... hairless... Martin was holding her hand gently as he was silently whispering to her even though she was unconscious. When Martin eventually saw me at the door, we didn't say anything to each other. He just slightly nodded at me as if he understood... I quickly left him alone with his wife... I passed by another room with what appears to be a family in it. The man was sitting up from the bed as he huddled closely together with who I presumed is his wife and two teenage children. I was even more shocked to see there was still a few children left in the hospital.

"God, please forgive us all for our sins..." I heard the woman whispering as she tighten her grip around her family. The teenagers were silently crying as they continued to pray together. I already left them alone to be with each other... "Where's my son?" I heard an old woman's voice in the distance as I walked up to a door which was slightly ajar. I saw a doctor was sitting beside an old woman whom was resting neatly on her bed. "I told you already, Ms. Ingrid. Your son had to be somewhere else right now..." The old woman nodded understandingly before she smiled at the doctor, "Okay... But could you tell him that he should come visit me more often? It's been a while since he last visited me... I wonder how he's doing with his biology test..." I noticed a single tear crossed the doctor's face as he held the old woman's hand and smiled politely at her, "I'll be sure to tell him that, Ms. Ingrid... And I'm sure he'll do amazing in his biology test... In fact, I bet he'll come visit any moment now... You'll see..." I felt sorry for the doctor as I walked past the room, leaving them to be alone with each other. How the people must pay for the atrocities of War...

As I finally reached the end of the hallway with the emergency room from before, right in front of me. I took a deep breath before my hand slowly edged closer to the door handle. But the door suddenly open right before I could grab a hold of the handle, much to my surprise. I was even more surprised to see the female doctor from before emerging behind the door. She was as confused as I was when she saw me, "You didn't leave with the Hover Copter?" I was almost stunned by her sudden exclaim before I muttered, "You- You knew about that?" "I think almost everybody heard it when it was landing on the rooftop..." She answered with an expressionless look in her face.

Completely confused, I asked her, "And yet... You still didn't do anything about it?" She let out a tiring sigh before she walked past me and gazed into the nearby window, witnessing the columns of black smoke in the horizon. "What could we possibly do? And even if we did anything and by some miracle, made it all the way to Beautopia with all of the patients... Then what would happen next? Will the world still be the same to come back after- if the War ends? Will we even be able to resurface? When will it all end?" She turned back to me and smiled meekly, "I guess I and... maybe everyone else just wanted to leave a world where it still makes a bit of sense and we don't want to see what comes after everything... What happens after the end..." She finished with a weak grin.

"What comes after the end?" I muttered out of confusion. I never really thought about that... "Who knows what will happen next? Maybe the world will be a better place after the end, after all. But I only wish that I could see my brother one last time and tell him I'm sorry for what I done to him..." The doctor seemed sad and longing about her brother. I didn't know what to say to comfort her as I just stood there in helpless silence. After a few quiet seconds, she slowly turned around and finally continued to walk away. "She's waiting for you, you know... I managed to clean her up a bit so you should be good to go..." I heard her calling out to me as she walked away from me and leaving me alone. "Thanks again, doctor..." I said softly before I turned around and saw the double metal doors right in front of me. I took a deep breath before I slowly edged my hand closer to the handle and finally pushed the door open...

"I- I can't leave her... I won't leave her..."

I opened the door and quickly went through the observation room before I finally reached her... She was resting neatly on the bed under the now clean white bed sheets. Her soft eyes were closed as she laid there motionless. She seemed so peaceful... I let out a weak sigh before I slowly opened the curtains of the windows in front of her that I didn't notice from before. I dragged a nearby chair and promptly sat down next to her facing the window which oversees the horizon in the distance. I could still see the columns of black smoke over at the horizon but they were already dissipating in the air. It won't be long now... "Hi..." I said softly before I swallowed my throat. "I wanted to tell you... that our son... is safe now... Henry's taking him to Beautopia as we speak so... You have nothing to worry about, Hannah..." I stifled a weak chuckle as a single tear crossed my face before I continued, "But I bet you would be really pissed off at me for not going with them... I bet you would tell me off for hours and you would probably lecture me non-stop... Heh... Well... I always was a never good listener..."

I mustered up a weak smile on my face as I continued, "Do... Do you remember the first time we met, Hannah? No... I'm not talking about college... The very first time we met... at the park when we were kids... You probably don't remember it... and you said I was the one with the terrible memory... I guess that's only... partially true then..." I gazed into her, sleeping peacefully on the bed. "I... I was walking around on the park with my head on the clouds before I was suddenly tripped by this mean teenager which immediately caused me to fall down right on this nearby pile of mud... All the other kids began laughing at me... except you..." I slowly outstretched my right hand and gently clutched into hers... "You helped me out that day... You saved me... And even though I just single-handedly ruined my popularity at school and I got mocked by the other kids at school for what seems like months, I still considered that day as a lucky and wonderful day for me... For you see, I was lucky enough to have met you... I'm still thanking that rude bully to this day actually... And I remembered how I swore that when I grow up, I would buy you a flower shop knowing that you love flowers... I guess that still never happened then... I'm... sorry..." I looked into the afternoon sun as the columns of smoke were all but gone. "I met a young girl at the city yesterday... She was resourceful, she was passionate, she was head-strong and brave... and she reminded me of you, Hannah... I wonder how she is doing right now... I hope she's already safe from... all of this... I guess it looks like I won't be able to fulfill the promise I made to her... It seems like I'm always abandoning promises lately..."

A deafening silence erupted in the room as I just sat there clutching onto her lifeless hand. Without thinking, I slowly raised my other hand and gently clasped onto my entire face, taking deep breaths and trying to stop my entire body from shaking. I still can't believe it's just going to end... Everything- Everything is gone now... In the midst of all the pain-stricken silence, I- I couldn't help myself but wondered how heaven had looked like as I sat there on the forsaken chair, completely alone... I had wondered if Hannah or Mom and Dad would already be waiting for me... I wondered if I even deserved to go to heaven in the first place... Throughout my entire life, I was really never that much of a religious man, much to my Mother's sheer anger... And I still remembered the faces and the screams of all those people I didn't help... All those people I left behind... It was then that I realized I was actually a selfish and greedy man... Maybe I'm not so different than the people who were forced to instigate War for their people's survival... Maybe I deserved this... I guess I really fucked it up this time, didn't I?

"I have to admit, Hannah... I'm scared... I'm really scared... I'm afraid to die... I don't know what's going to happen next... I don't know what happened to my Mother... To all of my friends... I don't know what's going to happen to our son... I could do nothing but only hope... Hope that he at least reemerged into a world, free from the wrath and destruction of humanity..." Tears were slowly going down on my face as I glanced continuously at her closed eyes... The stars are gone... Her smile was gone... Oh God, what could I have done differently? At any point in my life, what could I have done to make this nightmare seem distant? Oh God, what could I have done so I could be with Hannah, just for a little bit longer? "It looks like I'm just fulfilling one promise at the moment... The one I made to you... at our wedding, remember?"

A loud whizzing sound suddenly erupted from outside in the distant horizon as it gradually grew closer and closer. Is it time? I guess the time has finally come... I simply closed my eyes as I tighten my grip around her hand. "I... I promised you..." A large blinding flash of green deadly light could be seen at the corner of my eyes, even when they were tightly closed, with a thunderous and booming sound in the distance immediately following suit. Green... Green light? No... It- It can't be... Don't tell me they were actually desperate enough to use those kinds of bombs... It's- It's horrible... But I guess we're all desperate nowadays... Within seconds, it suddenly got much hotter and hotter in the room to the point that I realized it was actually getting much more difficult to simply breathe... I was gasping for air, struggling to even take a breath of air... My throat felt completely dry and coarse before it was swollen by the immense heat... I can't even utter the words without feeling the sharp and burning pain in my throat...

Before anything else could even be done though, another blinding flash of the horrific green light before another immediate deafening explosion could be heard with the distant sound of the front window slowly cracking and smashing into pieces. I could hear the faint sounds of the many glass shards pelting the floor as I struggled to continue...

"I promised you... that I..." I briefly stopped when I immediately realized all of the air around me was quickly being drained from the room, much to my anguish and horror.

"will never... leave your side..." I was wheezing desperately as I struggled to even continue to speak.

"until we decide... it's our time... to leave together..." A desperate scream could be heard echoing in the distance before it was immediately silenced by another deafening explosion.

My ears couldn't hear anything but a hollowed ringing as I could feel the searing heat from outside was quickly getting closer and closer before it nearly engulfed me... The green blazes was the only thing I could see through the empty tears of my eyes... I knew I couldn't breathe anymore as I opened my mouth and gasped for one last tired breath, closing my tear-filled eyes as hard as I could and clutching onto her hand as tightly as humanly possible...

"I- I love... I love you..."


	10. A New Day

Before the Mushroom War

A New Day...

"Duuuuuuuuuude, this place is so freaking boooooooring! Let's just bail out already!"

"C'mon Jake, Haven't you ever been curious on what's inside these freaking old buildings before? For all we know, there could be some mathematical treasure here or maybe a secret dungeon that could awesomely blow our minds!" The young boy encouraged his yellow-colored bulldog brother with such excited fervor as they continued to traverse deeper into the empty hallways of a nearly destroyed building. "I'll tell you what's inside this place, Finn!" Jake simply responded by enlarging one of his fists and immediately punched down a nearby rusted door revealing a small room with four charred skeletal bodies of various sizes surrounding some kind of burnt remains on a metallic platter. Now if it was a normal and perfectly average person, the grisly scene would most likely unnerve and horrify them. But the two brothers are brave adventurers that are far from perfectly average...

"Dust! Lots and lots of dust and all kinds of wonderful dirt everywhere! There's butt all in here, Finn boy! The only kinda cool thing here is the massive lake at the side of the freaking building! There couldn't possibly be any mind-blowing secret dungeons here, man!" The bulldog known as Jake exclaimed loudly whilst waving his skinny arms around as he proceeded to walk into the middle of the room. Finn didn't respond at all to his brother as the young boy simply stood there in the middle of the broken hallway basking in his silent contemplation when he couldn't help but gaze outside the broken and dusty windows, the lush and green vines were apparently growing all around the sides of the ruined building.

If he had squinted his eyes and looked into the distance hard enough, maybe he could just see the Candy Kingdom over at the horizon of the wide grassy fields laid out before the ancient building. Finn couldn't help but wonder how Princess Bubblegum is and what she is currently doing at this fine hour of the day... Probably some more random science junk that the young boy couldn't even understand... Speaking of which, the thought of Princess Bubblegum immediately made him remember about his upcoming date with the Flame Princess later this evening... Well, at least there's something to look forward to this evening, eh Finn?

"Yo, dude! Check this out!" Jake's sudden voice echoed from inside the dusty room. Finn promptly turned around and saw Jake holding up the four different charred skeletons from before into an upright standing position using four of his own arms. Two of those were actually just stretched out from his own skin. "What in Glob's name are you doing, man?" Finn raised his eyebrows in befuddlement at Jake's curious and kind of creepy behaviour with the remnants of the charred skeletons. 'It's my new band mates, man! It's the Skeleton Brothers! We're going to play all kinds of free form jazz!" Jake exclaimed happily as he immediately started to make all four of the skeletons to dance nonsensically.

"See, man? Aren't they awesomely rocking? Jazz will never be the same!" Jake excitedly exclaimed as he made the skeletons do all kinds of tricks whilst dancing which includes impossible somersaults and creepy but hilarious barrel rolls. Finn chuckled for a while at the oddly hilarious sight as Jake continued to make them dance like they were marionette puppets... But after a long moment of witnessing dancing bone people, the young boy finally said, "Okay, Jake! That's enough with the skeletons, man. We have to finish exploring this place, dude..." But Jake was simply too busy playing around with the skeletons to even listen to Finn as he, for some reason, strangely began to choreographed the four skeletons into more complicated manoeuvres which admittedly is giving all the dancing a bit more of a creepy and dark flair around it. It was incredibly disturbing...

"Jake, Jake, Jake, bro... Let's go already." The young boy called out to him once again as he furrowed his eyebrows in confused disappointment. Really, Jake? You're just going to play around with the first thing you find? "Hmm... Wha- What? Oh! Oh yeah, I'm- uh... I'm kinda busy here, Finn... So go on ahead and I'll be right behind you, bro!" Jake hastily replied without even taking his glance away from the hypnotic dancing of the skeletons. "Now if only I could make them play instruments, I could start my own Mariachi Jazz band or something... A fusion of genres..." It was like he already got side-tracked and was in his own little world or something as he simply continued to mutter to himself in a hushed tone... Well, typical Jake... What else can you expect from him, really? Finn simply rolled his eyes in bewilderment and let out a tiring sigh of his brother's behaviour before he just shrugged it off and finally decided to continue wandering into the deserted hallways all by himself...

But truth be told, Finn actually had his very own reasons in coming to this nearly destroyed and ruined building. This ancient building that's almost reduced to nothing but simple rubble as it struggles to even stand... It is because for some unknown reason, some unexplained reason that the young boy just could not make sense of. It's because every single time, every brief moment that he passed by the remnants of this particular building on one of his many adventures, he felt strangely drawn towards it... It felt more like a bad but empty feeling somewhere deep in his guts or something. It's just that he couldn't even properly describe this strange particular feeling and he doesn't understand why in Glob's name would he feel such a thing... It was really messing up with his head for who knows how long so he decided to finally check out this place one day with his beloved brother for the sole reason in finding out why, once and for all...

As Finn walked through the many empty hallways of the broken building which is littered with nothing but broken glass shards and the various encroaching vines from outside, he began to notice there was many other rooms with some kind of strange metallic platter right in the middle of it. These strange metallic platters were mainly occupied by their very own charred skeletons with the occasional accompanying skeleton at the side of the platter. He couldn't help but wonder about the true significance of this place. What was this building mostly for before the Mushroom War? Was it used to be some kind of fancy inn or something? Or was it some kind of place for worship? Whatever it is, the young boy knows that there's almost no chance of him actually finding out...

When he finally reached the end of a certain dilapidated hallway, the young boy found a wide open doorway as he saw what was probably used to be the two metal doors lying on the ground nearby, crumpled into an odd shape like it was nothing but simple paper and were already covered entirely by various vines and foliage. For some reason, this particular room seemed completely different than the rest... Finn slowly walked through the open doorway, skipping over the many glass shards scattered all over the ground as he carefully enters the room. But alas, he was immediately disappointed when he realized that he was just in a completely empty room. There was nothing interesting at all... "Crud cakes..." Finn simply muttered to himself out of disappointment before he shrugged it off as just another dead end.

The young boy was just about to leave the incredibly dusty and boring room before he suddenly noticed something at the corner of his clear blue eyes... To his pleasant surprise, there was a completely different door at the corner of the empty room. Thinking it could be actually something different, Finn quickly approached the door with such excitement and immediately tried to push open the door. His excitement was quickly replaced with sheer annoyance thought as he discovered that the door simply wouldn't budge. "Nuh uh! No way, door... Don't you dare be a dummy and block my way! You can't stop me now!" Finn exclaimed bravely as he reared his right leg backwards into the air before he finally kicked the door wide open, slightly grinning at how easy it was to open the door.

As he stood outside the gaping maw of the doorway, Finn carefully peered inside, revealing a small bedroom of some sort. Finn slowly crept through the door and the first thing he he could see was a small scarred bed in the middle of the room and an overturned melted object right next to it. And yet again, glass shards were almost everywhere on the ground. This place is really messed up... And the young boy doesn't want to stay here any longer than he should. It keeps reminding him of what came before and unintentionally causes him to be all 'soul-searchy'...

Finn noticed there was something different lying on the bed as he, for some strange reason, slowly approached closer and closer to it. It- It was just another skeleton, resting neatly and peacefully on the bed... It seemed just like any of the many other skeletons in this place but- But there was just something... Something so different about it... Why, he wondered? Why does it feel different? First of all, the skeleton's bones wasn't charred at all like the various others they had found in this rotting place. And... Why, oh, why in the name of Glob does this room feels different? WHY does Finn feel a strange sense of familiarity with this place... This one particular room... It was like he had been in this place before, which is completely ridiculous as soon as the thought crossed his head... Finn's head was incredibly confused at this point as the overwhelming feeling inside him kept gnawing at his guts... The young boy felt strangely disheartened when he simply stands in the middle of this ruined room as he tries his very best to make sense in all of it. "I don't feel so good..."

"Yo, Finn! Are you alright, man? I heard a loud crashing sound, dude! Did you find your secret dungeon or something?! Did you fight a giant dungeon troll?" Jake's excited voice could be heard in the distance and it was quickly getting louder and louder. Within seconds, Jake suddenly burst out of the open doorway, his four hands still holding onto his esteemed 'band of skeletal brothers' as he simply dragged them along right behind him. As soon as he heard his brother's voice, Finn quickly shook his head clear of this strange thoughts and turned around to his excited brother, smiling meekly. "I'm- I'm fine, Jake... I'm just peachy... I was just giving the door a good beat down, thinking that there was a treasure or something behind it... But it turns out there's actually butt all in here and it's just another boring dead end..." Finn nervously explained as he simply chuckled this strange feeling away. "Ha! I told you this place was croaked up, man!" Jake exclaimed pridefully as he crossed his arms and broadly grinned to show off the bloated victory over his brother.

As Jake was defiantly shaking his head and wallowing in his tiny victory, he couldn't help but notice the clean skeletal body lying peacefully on the nearby bed. "Hey! Another member for my new Mariachi Jazz band!" He exclaimed happily as a fifth arm immediately stretched outwards from his own body and reached towards the skeleton with the clear intention of picking it up and maybe make it dance and do some creepy tricks- "JAAAAAKKKKEEEE! NOOOOOOOO!" Finn suddenly cried out loudly, his face full of shock and despair. Jake immediately pulled back his outstretched hand, out of sheer shock, and quickly dropped the rest of the skeletons onto the ground. "Whoa, man... uh... Are- Are you okay, Finn buddy?" Jake asked the young boy in a soft tone but with a scared and clearly worried look on his face. What's wrong with his brother, the dog wondered... "It's- It's nothing, Jake... It's nothing..." Finn muttered solemnly as he tightly clasped onto his forehead, for some reason, a sudden headache just came out of nowhere and flooded his mind with a certain numbing pain. Why- Why did he just do that? He simply could not understand it, no matter how hard he tried... Everything just doesn't make any sense in this Math-ed up place... He didn't know why but it felt like a distant spark from out of nowhere suddenly erupted inside his head, causing him to unknowingly scream at his confused brother... If that makes any sense to the young hero...

"Are you sure you're okay, bro?" Jake gently placed his hand on Finn's shoulder and smiled comfortingly, a hopeful and calming glint in his eyes. "I'm pretty sure, bro... I'm feeling just mathematical, really... I think I just need some rest, that's all. Let's- Let's just go back to the Treehouse, okay?" Finn tried to reassure his brother as he put on his best 'okay' grin at Jake, hoping that it could convince his brother. Jake seemed thoughtful for a while before he finally grinned at his brother and slowly nodded in an agreeing manner. "Whatever you say, bro... Whatever you say. Okay, so let's bail!" Jake softly smiled at the young boy before he slowly walked out of the small room, leaving his dear brother behind. Finn, for some inexplicable reason, turned back towards the skeleton resting peacefully on the bed, this strange feeling of familiarity still gnawing inside his heart and guts... What does it all mean, he still wonders?

"C'mon, Finn! We're burning precious sunlight over here!" Jake excitedly called out to him from the outside, his gruff voice echoing throughput the empty and lifeless hallways. I guess it's a question to be answered some other time... For now, Finn decided to keep it inside the Vault of his own head. A future adventure for another time, perhaps? Maybe... But in the end, the young hero simply take one final deep breath and just shrugged off all of the strange feelings inside him before finally making his way out of the bedroom, closing the broken door firmly behind him... The door though, immediately creaked back open and remained only slightly ajar as the brothers were already long gone by now...

"Hey! Wait for me, Jake!"

"First one back to the Treehouse get first dibs on B-MO!"

"You are so ON, bro!"

"Ha ha! You think you can actually beat me, Finn?"

"Hey, wait! Jake! That's cheating, Jake!"

Unbeknownst to Finn and Jake, the skeleton resting peacefully on the bed had another part to her that they simply did not notice. Some might argue it was the poor lighting in the dusty ruined room or maybe it was Jake's rambunctious skeleton show that prevented them from noticing it... But in one of the skeleton's hands, there was actually another hand holding onto her, for who knows how long? The other hand that originally came from another body entirely... But sadly though, there was nothing left but just the hand's skeletal remains...

And to this very day, after all these centuries and generations, it was still holding onto her as tightly as he possibly could...

Still desperately clutching onto her hand...

Still fulfilling the promise he had made to her...

The one who had saved him...

The love of his life...

To always be by her side...

To never let go of her...

To never leave her alone ever again...

_Never..._

**The End**

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_Ending Song - The Gambler by fun. or After the Storm by Mumford and Sons_

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_**Hey, everybody! It's ParagonFlynn here!**_

_**I hope all of you enjoyed reading my very first fanfiction as much as I enjoyed writing it. I just wanted to thank all of you for accompanying me on this wonderful journey of mine and I hope you will look forward to my upcoming stories. Honestly, I never expected that people would actually like my story so it was quite a big surprise actually. Considering it was something different and doesn't include the main characters of the show, I was afraid some people would actually despise it. But I'm so happy with how this story had turned out in the end! Thanks again for taking the time to read my story out of so many others and I'm deeply sorry if you were inconvenienced in any way because of the abrupt rewrite. If you have any questions or if you want more details and hints about my future stories, feel free to Private Message me and I will get back at you as soon as humanly possible... Just don't expect me to give out the ending... Have a very good day, folks!  
**_

_**P.S. If you have the free time, why don't you check out my newly formed community, 'Heart of Adventure'. The first thing you might find is a variety of stories written by better and more devoted authors than me. These people spent a lot of time crafting unique stories in the vast and wonderful world of Adventure Time and I would very much appreciate it if you would take the time to read all of the different stories in the slowly but surely growing list of the community.  
**_

_**Love,  
ParagonFlynn  
**_


	11. I will be Watching

**Boom! Surprise chapter! You thought it was really over, didn't you?**

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**Before the Mushroom War**

**Guardian of His Fate, ****Defender of His Destiny**

As I sat there on the edge of unending nothingness, I simply gazed into the white abyss below me. My eyes felt weary and especially heavy right now, the daunting sight of a never-ending void before me did nothing to help keep me awake. Even with the haunting thought that if I fall from this edge right now and right this instant, I should probably consider myself already dead. But in the end, I'm still not impressed... Damn, when was the last time I ever been so cynical? I guess it's because I haven't slept or did anything to prevent myself from being cynical for a long while. It's been so long... That I think I can't even remember the last time I did rest... I simply let out a tiring sigh as I kept peering through the eternal nothingness of the blinding abyss, it felt like the empty void could suddenly reach out and engulf me at any time. I think- I think I would gladly welcome the void... But not yet... Not yet; I know it's not the right time yet.

"So that is how the boy finally came to be?" A familiar and echoing voice suddenly called out to me, immediately breaking my silent contemplation. "Yes... Yes, I do believe so." I softly replied as I slowly but surely stood back up, fighting my aching body when I tried my best to move my entire legs. And as I stood there on the edge of the white void, giving it one last glance of curiosity before I finally turned around to my only companion in this unending plane of emptiness, if you could call him a friendly 'companion'... He's not exactly what I call a 'sociable' person, considering he is forever bound to this eternal void in all by his lonesome self. Heck, I think I'm probably the only one that ever visits him nowadays. Either to his sheer annoyance or to his gladful acceptance, I'm still not sure though...

"And... what about the boy's parents? Whatever happened to them?", asked the humanoid standing before me; his body shrouded entirely in a dark silhouette with stars glistening inside the emptiness of his void body. The dark shadow-like silhouette was a stark contrast to the white void surrounding us both. It felt like his whole body was entirely composed of the vast space in the universe and what lies beyond that, but I know that it was only partial from the actual truth... "Dead... They're both dead now." I answered his question before immediately letting out a tiring yawn. If he had a face, I guess he would seem disappointed from my answer. "Oh, really? Well... I guess that's quite a shame." He muttered as he slowly raised his right hand, the stars inside him shone brightly as they seemingly followed his moving body. I could even see the occasional Sun or two somewhere inside that messy pile of space which consists of his humanoid body. It was quite distracting sometimes, actually...

"I also wanted to ask, by the way... What happened to the little undead girl the father had befriended and what happened to the rest of his friends?" He inquired to me as he went back to standing perfectly still in the middle of the empty plane, like he is always meant to... I almost chuckled at his question but I was simply too tired for it. It's mainly because I knew he was just trying to humor me... After all, why would you ask something like that when you could easily see entire past events and the many possible versions of the distant future? I'm still not sure how he could handle all of that knowledge though... Knowing all about what may or may not happen in the future, sometimes it hurts to know. I didn't know why he had agreed to do this... I know I couldn't bear this responsibility, that's for certainly sure...

"Most of his friends perished in the War, along with his Mother... The brave warrior and his daughter actually made it to the safe haven known as Beautopia and promptly went into cryostasis, living out the rest of the destructive End War and the rest of their lives underground. The little undead girl though did not abide by the promise she made with the boy's father and instead, waited for the father at the neighboring city known as New Tristram, until it was all but completely destroyed by the End War. But thankfully in the end, she was eventually found and nicely taken care of, by the father's close friend whom was unfortunately cursed by the Ice King's crown." I decided to just humor him and go along with all of this nonsense as I softly but carefully explained the answers. "Such a terrible business... This War... Nobody wins in War, even if you had finally won... Is it truly a necessary evil?" He muttered in disappointment as he slowly shook his head, revealing a passing black hole in the void of his head. I don't know the answer to that question... Is it truly necessary? Possibly; but is it also worth it?

"So... why are you telling me all of this, Overseer? All about the young boy and all of his friends, in particular?" He finally asked me as I slowly circled around his stationary body, stretching my aching legs and forcing my ancient body to move. "It's... It's because I'm very interested in this world." I answered him as I gave away a lazy shrug. "Of course, you should be interested in it. It is your assigned world, after all..." He angrily snapped back at me. "But why is it that you're so infatuated in what happens to the boy? Why is it do you constantly regale his tales to me, when I simply do not care? Why do you care about him and his friends?" He almost demanded to know, his echoing voice was beginning to sound much more annoyed by my mere presence. I fell silent as I didn't say anything back to him... What could I say to him? "Or is it because of his eventual fate? His possible destiny?" He suddenly exclaimed, slightly swiveling his head sideways in curiosity. Damn it, I should have known. He always knows... I bet he must feel pretty superior, thinking that he knows about everything.

"I... I intend to save him from his fate. Even when he doesn't understand it himself, even if he's too young to face it yet... He does not know it but he is set in a path that I could not stop... but I still need to try and save him..." I hesitantly whispered the confession under my breath as I clenched my fist with spiteful determination. "No, you may not. Overseer, your sole purpose is to merely observe, not to interfere in the matters of your assigned world in any way. I command you to stop your clueless escapade right this instant." He loudly ordered me to stop, but I simply scoffed back at him before silently turning my head away from him, clearly trying to ignore at what he just said. "If you do not stop this foolish endeavor of yours at once, Overseer, then I will have no choice but to stop you myself." He threatened me, the big guy actually threatened me... Never thought that I would see that inside him. Maybe it's because I keep seeing stars inside him instead... "Overseer, it is your choice..." No, I cannot stop now! I won't let him stop me...

"No, no, no, you can't tell me to stop now! I can't just stop right now! How could I just stop? Now when I am so close! Don't you understand why I'm even doing this?" I loudly snapped back at him, my voice echoed throughout the empty void as I impatiently stomped closer, eventually standing right in front of the void of his unending face. "I do, Overseer..." He said softly, probably with a smug face or an understanding one, if he had a face. "Then- Then if you really know why the hell I'm doing this, then you must know that I cannot simply stop right now. Not when the boy's entire life and future is at stake..." I exclaimed defiantly with a defeated sigh at the end. "You must, Overseer, or else you will face and suffer the dire consequences .." He muttered as turned his gaze into another direction and simply looked away from me, not wanting to continue this conversation any further. I couldn't help but sighed, feeling more and more defeated by the second. Maybe it's time I should leave, but not without making one final plea, "Please... If you truly want me to stop, then please tell me how I could save him... Please tell me how it all ends... How everything will end."

After what seemed for quite a long while, there was still no answer from him. I can't tell if he was contemplating about it or if he was simply ignoring me again... "I still question to this day why you are one of us, Overseer..." He suddenly exclaimed in a disappointed manner before he simply turned his back towards me, a shooting star coursed through the empty space inside his body. There was not a single response from him after that. I should have known that he would say something like that... I should have known. "Me too, old friend. Me too..." I muttered under my breath as I slowly turned around and promptly walked away into the nothingness, leaving him to wallow in all by his lonesome self. I don't know why I feel so disappointed and defeated... What else did I expect from someone like him? Did I really thought that he would help me?

"Wait!" He suddenly called out for me, immediately halting me in my tracks. Without turning around, I coldly answered back to him, "What do you want now?" "What are you planning to do, Overseer?" His echoing voice asked me with an inquiring and demanding tone. I unknowingly shrugged before I continued walking away from him and into the unending abyss before me, "For now, I think I'll just watch over the boy and the rest of his friends. And interfere, if needs be... After that, who knows? If you're not going to tell me, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the end..."

"Grob Gob Glob Grod would not like it at all if you were to interfere..."

"Who cares what they think? They certainly don't give a damn about me, that's for sure..."

"Then for whatever it is worth, Overseer; I wish you the best of luck then, even if you are in the wrong..."

"Thank you, old friend... Thank you."

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed reading something that I had planned for quite a long while. It's something new from me, where at the very end of every one of my long story-based fanfictions (not one-shots), there would be a cryptic conversation between these mysterious figures. Why am I doing this? Why, it's just a little bit of foreshadowing for my last story, my epic swan song, if you would consider it as such. Who are these two mysterious figures? What does the Overseer want? Why is the Overseer so interested in the young hero known as Finn the Human? Well, the only way to find out is to follow me and await for future updates. (Shameless Advertising) Thank you very much for reading my story and I wish you a very good day!**

**-ParagonFlynn.**


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